Misunderstood - Above and Beyond
by Toffeecrisp
Summary: This is a sequel to Misunderstood. Three months have passed since Charles and Molly laid all the misunderstandings of their first encounter to rest and embarked upon a relationship. What will the future hold and will their long-distance romance survive the trials and tribulations of everyday life?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"You, Cockwomble," Charles James muttered to himself in frustration as he turned the key in the ignition of his car and heard the engine roar into life. Hiding his feelings, he turned his head to smile and wave at Molly. She was standing on the pavement outside her flat. He saw her raise her hand in acknowledgement and force a smile but he could tell that she was troubled.

The whole day had been one trouble after another from the moment they turned up late for the lunch party organised by Molly's boss, Kevin Jones, to the disagreement over Charles' plans for next weekend. Molly had blamed Charles for their late arrival at the lunch. It was being held at an Italian restaurant run by Kevin's old school friend, Marco, to celebrate his forty-seventh birthday. Charles considered the blame to be somewhat unfair as Molly had been equally involved in the activity that had delayed them getting out of bed that morning and he hadn't heard her complaining at the time, quite the contrary. Giving her the advice to set her alarm earlier in the morning hadn't been well received as she continued to blame him for initiating everything knowing they had to get up and go out. "Well, you should be less attractive or more assertive then," he had countered meaning it as a joke but the remark had been met with a stony silence which only ended when, searching in a frantic manner through a disorganised pile of belongings under her bed, she had yelled with frustration, "Where the bleedin' hell is my handbag?"

Molly didn't like rushing around or being late. It was something Charles had come to learn about her during the last three months and it had surprised him. As a former military man he would have assumed that the need to be organised and prepared would sit more easily with his nature but he was beginning to see that Molly needed to be in control of what was happening around her or she became flustered and uncertain. She hadn't liked turning up half an hour late at lunchtime to find the first course had already been served and there was no chance of being introduced to the other guests before they sat down to eat. She had seemed withdrawn and Charles knew she was feeling at a disadvantage. She had rallied a little later but still seemed a bit out of sorts on the taxi journey back to her flat.

When Charles had later proposed the idea of Molly travelling down to Bath next weekend to stay with him and Sam she had seemed concerned. He hadn't wanted to overwhelm her and had invited her whilst his parents were away, having asked their permission first. His mother was curious to meet Molly but had been understanding and his father was simply prepared to go along with whatever his mother thought best. It was typical of his father to defer to his wife's judgment on these matters in the same way he had done so for the past thirty five years. It was Molly's reaction that had surprised Charles. She had almost seemed reluctant and he couldn't decide if it was the prospect of staying in Bath or becoming more involved in his life by meeting his son.

Until now Charles had kept his life in two separate compartments. When he was with Molly he had concentrated on their relationship alone, letting them spend as much time as they could manage together as a couple and allowing nothing else to impinge on that time. However, this latest suggestion seemed to have changed something in her mind and he thought she seemed worried.

They hadn't had an argument as such but he sensed her unease. The answers she gave to his questions were short and non-committal rather than snapped or bad tempered and she only seemed to be devoting half her powers of concentration on this or any other topic of conversation for the remainder of the afternoon. He began to wish he hadn't mentioned next weekend at all. The only reason he had decided that he wanted her to meet Sam was because everything was going so well between them. Even when they had finally managed to get all the misunderstandings cleared up and shared that first blissful afternoon and evening together at the hotel, he had known that they were only at the beginning of something and that it wasn't going to be the easiest journey. However, things had gone so well that he'd put aside any misgivings at a fairly early stage and started to look forward to the future. Sam was part of that future and he wanted to share it with Molly.

Charles pulled away from the kerbside and drove down the narrow road, lined with parked cars either side. He glanced once more in the mirror. Molly was watching him still, but she wasn't waving any more. Whatever was troubling her, she didn't seem ready to share it with him yet. He would just have to be patient and wait out.

X-X-X-X

It was Sunday afternoon, late September, and still warm in the sunshine. Molly watched Charles driving away, starting his return journey to Nant Glyn House and silently cursed herself for sending him off on a negative note.

She hadn't been expecting him to suggest that she come down to Bath next weekend. Until now they had been seeing each other on alternate weekends and occasionally in the week if Charles was free for a few days. Business had been quiet at Nant Glyn House during August and he had come down to London several times.

Molly didn't know whether she was free next weekend. Kevin had said he might require her assistance and had asked her to make herself available, promising to explain everything tomorrow. She had told Charles that she might be working but when he had asked what she would be doing her answers had been short and vague and she realised that they hadn't sounded very convincing. However, without knowing what Kevin had planned, it was difficult for her to make any promises to Charles. Although he had changed the subject and appeared unperturbed she guessed that he was disappointed by her response.

She was pleased that Charles had asked her to meet Sam. He was a major part of his life and she didn't want to get it wrong. The prospect of the meeting had made her feel nervous. She realised that she was being stupid given that Sam was seven years old and she had brothers and sisters of his age. She knew what children were like. Perhaps that was the problem. Young children had a way of sizing you up and saying with complete honesty what they thought of you without any hint of embarrassment whilst their unfortunate parents stood nearby, toes curling, wanting the floor to open up and swallow them whole. Children always noticed the thing you wanted to hide most: your big nose; the hole in your shoe that you hadn't got mended; the strange shade of auburn the dye had turned your hair; your lisp or slight stammer or worse still, something you hadn't even realised about yourself. A little part of her was afraid that Charles' immensely talented son would somehow perceive the one thing about her that his father had never noticed and cause him to irrevocably change his opinion.

She shook her head; that wouldn't happen. Meeting Charles again, even though she hadn't known or appreciated it at the time, had been a fortuitous twist of fate. After three nightmarish months of unhappiness, dating from the moment when Rick, her former boyfriend, had so callously dumped her and left her in financial straits, to that day in June back at the fateful hotel when Charles had appeared in the bar, walked towards her and somehow wiped the slate clean so that they could start again, she had finally pulled her life back together. It was more than that; she had made it better.

She saw Charles' car turn the corner of the road and disappear from sight. She decided to text him later, say something romantic to cheer him up and let him know she would try to come to Bath next weekend if she could.

She went back up to her flat and looked around her. It was so much more welcoming now than it had been three months ago when she had returned from the week long course at Nant Glyn House and Kevin, carrying her bag into the empty shell of a flat, had seen the unmistakeable evidence of the mess into which her life had fallen. She had been intending to move out once the rental contract came to an end and find somewhere cheaper but that had meant looking much further afield and making her commute to work quite long. Her promotion to the role of Kevin's Personal Assistant had come with a hefty pay rise and thanks to his assistance a couple of weeks ago with re-negotiating the rent, she had managed to strike a better deal with the landlord. The flat was reasonably well placed for a commute to Head Office and so she had decided to stay on.

Her happiness in the last three months had managed to eradicate the memory of those first two or three months in which she had been living in a sparsely furnished flat, strapped for cash and struggling to feed herself. When Charles had first seen the flat at the start of July, even he had commented on the fact that he felt as if he was back in barracks again which brought home to her just how desperate things had been. She had gradually made the place more homely with the addition of some pictures and soft furnishings and a few personal touches like flowers when Charles came to stay. It felt like her place now and when she got home at the end of a day, even when it was fairly late or her work had been stressful, she was glad to open the door and step inside.

So much had changed for her in the last three months, not only her personal happiness with Charles but in her work. She had accepted the new role working alongside Kevin with a degree of trepidation not knowing quite how things would pan out. They had a good relationship and always had done. Kevin saw his younger self reflected in her and seemed to know what she was thinking. In turn she had energy, was committed, dogged and determined where necessary and always loyal to him.

Molly had been afraid that when she moved to Head Office she would lose touch with her former colleagues at the CSF branch particularly her friend Kate but thankfully they had remained in contact through work and at least once a week Molly managed to find an excuse to call in to see everyone usually bearing cakes or a round of coffee from 'Jackie's' across the road.

Molly knew that she owed Kate a debt of thanks for her part in bringing herself and Charles together. It had been her call that had finally given Charles the impetus he needed to chase off down to Surrey with the intention of rescuing Molly from what he perceived to be the evil clutches of her predatory employer. Kate still liked to think of Charles as being Molly's Knight in shining armour saving a damsel in distress and frequently teased Molly about it. Although Molly couldn't tell Kate the truth of what had happened out of respect and sensitivity for Kevin's personal situation, she had made sure that Kate knew that they had been mistaken in Kevin's intentions. This had at least restored him to Kate's previous good opinion but she continued to jokingly refer to "Sir Charles" whenever she talked of Molly's boyfriend.

With Charles having departed for North Wales, Molly felt at a loose end. She hated these times. It was like waiting to go back to school at the end of the weekend, knowing that all the fun was over for another week. She wandered around the flat tidying up a few muddles that were lying around but without any real purpose. Charles was far tidier than her, a hangover from army life, and she suspected that there were times when he was itching to clean up but restrained himself, respecting that it was Molly's flat and he shouldn't behave as if he had his feet firmly under the table. She did some washing up before making a sandwich and flopping down in front of the television to watch one of the typical Sunday night period dramas that seemed to pepper weekend viewing schedules. She wasn't a great lover of dramas particularly when she had already missed a couple of episodes and the programme was only half holding her attention when she heard her phone ringing and reached to pick up the call.

"Molly, it's Kevin."

She glanced at the time, it was almost nine o'clock and quite late for a call from Kevin on a weekend especially as she had only seen him at lunchtime.

"I'm sorry to do this to you with so little notice but do you think you could do me a big favour and get yourself down to Heathrow for six o'clock tomorrow morning. I've got a guest flying in from the States. He was only able to confirm a couple of hours ago. I was intending to meet him myself but I need to be in the office by seven tomorrow. Do you think you could meet him, treat him to some breakfast and get him to the office for about eight thirty?"

Molly almost gave an audible gulp. Kevin was effectively asking her to leave home by five o'clock tomorrow morning which would mean a very early alarm call.

"Yes, of course, Kevin, but won't he be tired after flying overnight?"

Kevin laughed. "Oh, don't worry about Matthew. He flies strictly first class and he'll be well rested."

"Matthew?" Molly enquired.

"Yes, Matthew Parker. He's the son of a friend of mine. He's been working out in the States. He's a good lad and he's done well for himself, I can tell you. He's coming over to help me with a bit of business."

Molly was intrigued. "Is this what you were going to tell me about tomorrow?"

"Yes, but we'll talk about it properly then."

Kevin gave her the flight details and thanked her again before remarking,

"You'd better get some shut-eye. You looked a bit tired at lunchtime."

Molly dismissed the remark with, "Just a bit busy this weekend, you know."

"Yeah," Kevin replied. "See you tomorrow."

Getting up at four o'clock in the morning hadn't been part of Molly's plans for Monday. She decided that she'd better get herself organised if she was going to rise before dawn and still do a full day's work. She set about finding some clothes for tomorrow: a smart pair of trousers and a jacket, a business-like blouse and a pair of heels. She spent some time contemplating the height of the heels and weighing up the various merits of lower versus higher. There could be more walking involved in an airport visit than she expected. Airport terminals were large places. Comfortable heels might be better. The sight of killer heels might strike a man dead in his tracks but after a while they also rendered the wearer incapacitated and she opted for a more sensible pair than she might normally choose for work. It was obvious that Kevin valued this Matthew Parker, particularly if he was sending Molly to meet and greet him on his behalf. She called a taxi firm and booked a cab for Heathrow at five o'clock in the morning and finally turned out the light at ten o'clock anxiously setting her alarm before going to sleep.

X-X-X-X

It was almost eleven o'clock when Charles pulled up outside his apartment in the stable yard at Nant Glyn House. To his surprise a light was on in the storeroom in the corner of the yard. Bing popped his head around the door curious at the sound of the car arriving. He greeted Charles as he got out and stretched after the long drive.

"Made it back here before Ade then."

Charles glanced across to see Ade's parking space empty and assumed that he probably wouldn't return until first thing in the morning after a weekend spent with Giselle in London.

Bing had forgiven him about the 'no show' for Sunday lunch on the day he had gone to London to meet with Molly. However, Charles wasn't so sure that Bing's wife, Sarah had forgotten it. Bing hadn't been entirely in favour of Sarah's match-making plans but had been trying to steer the path of least resistance. Sarah had been privately cross with Charles but had brushed it off in public as being of no matter and as her friend, Cerys, had not been party to the match-making plot she was none the wiser.

"So how's it all going with young Molly?"

Bing seemed inclined to chat although Charles was feeling tired and given the way things had seemed between them when he left London he felt a bit reluctant to talk about it.

"Oh fine, you know." It was a weak response and Bing picked up on the lack of conviction in his reply.

"I thought you were love's young dream."

Charles carried on taking his bag out of the car and Bing continued idly, "Well, there's always Kate Allen."

Charles pulled a face. They both knew this was a joke. Charles had eventually come clean to him about the mistake over names and Bing had felt slightly embarrassed about a few of his previous comments but had taken the news in reasonably good part and referred to the fact that he'd always suspected Charles was a bit of dark horse and this just confirmed it in his eyes. Nevertheless, he still liked to drop a Kate Allen comment every so often just to keep the private joke alive.

"As a matter of fact, "Charles said, "I met her husband a couple of weeks ago." He was referring to a dinner party thrown by Kate to which he and Molly had been invited. "He's a nice chap." Charles continued. "However, I don't think he'd be keen on a Ménage a trois."

Bing smiled. "Why don't you invite Molly up here? We'll keep out of your way. You can take her up on the hills for a gentle, romantic stroll."

Charles paused trying to imagine Molly walking up Snowdon, possibly cussing, complaining and turning the air blue as she climbed although given Charles' physical limitations after his injury and her lack of mountaineering experience they might be a well-matched pair. Bringing his thoughts back to reality however, he said,

"I'm having enough trouble persuading her to come down to Bath next weekend, let alone asking her to come up here again to the back of beyond."

Bing raised his eyebrows. "Well, good luck with that."

"Thanks," Charles replied. "I think I might gonna need it!"

Bing locked up the storeroom and bidding Charles goodnight wandered back up the drive towards the Lodge House. Charles picked up his bag and unlocking his apartment wandered in, setting his belongings down by the bed. He took his phone out of his pocket. The reception was good but there were no new messages. He toyed with the idea of texting Molly but it was late and she would probably have gone to bed. He didn't want the beep of a new message to disturb her and he knew she slept with her phone by the bed. He'd wait until the morning and let her have a good night's rest.

X-X-X-X

Molly shivered as she stood in the arrivals area at Terminal Five. There had been a chill in the air this morning. The seasons were definitely on the change and autumn was approaching. The alarm had disturbed her from a dream in which Charles was introducing her to his son, Sam, who despite his age, bore a striking a resemblance to a TV talent judge who kept firing questions at her without waiting for an answer before pressing a large red buzzer and shaking his head. She awoke in the darkness feeling slightly sweaty and groaned seeing the clock showing ten minutes past four. She sank back on the pillows, still drowsy and must have nodded off again until she woke with a jolt to see that twenty minutes had passed. She threw herself out of bed and stumbled towards the bathroom, thankful she had sorted out her clothes last night. As she hit the shower she felt suddenly weak after the adrenalin rush but the warm water began to revive her. She dressed rapidly and slapped on some make-up. She would like to have done something interesting with her hair but there wasn't time to do anything beyond scrape it into a pony tail before the buzzer indicated the booked taxi had arrived.

At last she was able to sink into the seat in the back of the cab and shut her eyes for a while as the taxi headed out of town. The driver, coming to the end of a night shift, was intending to catch another fare back into central London before knocking off for the night. It was late for him and too early for Molly. There was no need for conversation and she wasn't forced to listen to the list of celebrities he'd carried in the back of his cab.

She reached Heathrow in good time. The arrivals board showed that the flight from Boston had landed and as Molly waited in the arrivals area she realised that she didn't know what Matthew Parker looked like and she hadn't brought a sign. She reached into her bag, found an old advertising flyer and wrote on the back in black ball point pen 'Matthew Parker'.

Passengers were beginning to emerge from the immigration and baggage claim area. Molly watched a series of business men with laptops and brief cases walking through but none glanced in her direction. When she finally saw the tall, slim and tanned, blonde-haired man pause about ten feet away from her, look at the sign in her hands, blink and then raise a quizzical eyebrow in her direction, she assumed that he must be the person she was waiting for. He walked towards her, breaking into broad smile which displayed the dazzling white of his perfect teeth.

"God, Kevin, you've changed," he said.

She couldn't quite place his accent. It had once been typical of south east England but had acquired a definite American twang. She guessed he had been working in America for some time. She also realised that Kevin hadn't managed to get a message through to him before he left Boston.

"How do you do?" He held out his hand clearly expecting her to introduce herself.

"Molly," she supplied. "Molly Dawes."

"Nice to meet you, Molly, but I have to tell you that your sign is wrong," he remarked.

Molly turned it over in her hands to look at it expecting to see a spelling mistake but could see nothing wrong. The lettering was bold and legible and his name was correct. He watched her going through the motions and must have thought that she looked baffled by his statement because he smiled at her again and said with a shake of his head,

"The name's Matt. Only my Dad and Kevin get away with calling me anything else." He leaned closer, gave her an appraising look up and down and lowering his voice said, "Now where would I be if I let you take any liberties with me?"


	2. Chapter 2

**_Thank you to everyone for reading this story and for your kind reviews and comments. For all of you who read Chapter One and thought you could hear the opening bars of a certain song playing in the background, all I can say is let's hope the future contains…..moonlight and music and love and romance…..we'll have to wait and see!_**

**Chapter Two**

It had only taken Molly about two minutes to form her opinion of Matt Parker; he was an over-paid, smart-ass, business-bore. For someone who'd just stepped off of an overnight transatlantic flight he was immaculate, not a hair out of place, clean-shaven, wafting expensive aftershave, his suit barely creased and he seemed fully alert and on his mettle. Molly felt tired and dowdy next to him. She had been under no illusion at the airport that he hadn't been checking her out and she suspected that his first impression of her was not particularly favourable. She looked business-like, although, in her opinion, possibly too business-like, giving the appearance of a straight-laced librarian which was not the effect she generally aimed to achieve. Matt, by contrast, she grudgingly admitted to herself, looked distinctly hot. In his late-twenties, confident, assured and evidently successful, he was most definitely one of life's high-flyers and Molly couldn't help but feel a little intimidated in his presence.

The taxi bringing Molly and Matt back into London encountered increasing traffic as the early morning rush-hour began making the return journey much longer. However, unperturbed by this, Matt took an interest in everything around him and spoke a great deal asking Molly many questions about the business and her job. After half an hour her head was spinning from listening to him and answering questions. It was too early in the morning for a grilling. At this time of day she was normally shovelling the last piece of toast into her mouth before making a hasty exit for work. It took her time in the morning to wake up and get herself moving and in her opinion Matt was far too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for this time of day. She heard a text alert from her phone and was about to reach into her bag to retrieve it when Matt took the sound of the alert as a cue to start talking at length about the pros and cons of the 'instant' culture and the perceived importance of creating what he termed 'unavailable' time. It was enough to discourage Molly from getting her phone out in front of him to check her messages and she sat on in silence whilst he talked.

When they finally reached Head Office she was grateful to get out of the cab. She took Matt's luggage into reception and relinquished it into the care of the security guard manning the front desk. Remembering Kevin's instruction to take Matt out for breakfast she led him to a favoured café just around the corner from the office. They settled down at a table in the window. Molly was starving after having had nothing to eat since getting up four hours ago and was strongly tempted to order a cooked breakfast but was discouraged by hearing Matt declare that he'd just have a skinny latte. Not wanting to appear greedy, Molly curbed her instincts and asked for a coffee and a bagel. To her annoyance after the food and drinks had arrived Matt remarked,

"You need to eat more. You can't do a full day's work on that."

When Molly mentioned something about the fact that he wasn't eating at all he replied with a satisfied grin, "Oh, I already ate on the plane. They do a great breakfast in first class."

She immediately made a mental note to deliver him to Kevin as planned at eight thirty and slip back out to treat herself to the full English breakfast she craved and some well-deserved peace and quiet once he was safely off her hands.

With breakfast having restored a degree of equanimity, Molly listened to Matt afresh. His conversation had moved away from work to a range of more general subjects and she found her initial opinion of him beginning to shift towards something more favourable. He talked a great deal, it was true, but on reflection he couldn't really be accused of being boring, as his topics of discussion varied and he knew as much about music, TV or films as business practice. He wasn't particularly opinionated as he seldom gave his own view; he just liked to share the differing points of view in circulation on any given subject. At this moment the one thing in his favour was that he didn't require a great deal of input from Molly and as she was tired after the early start, it suited her well enough.

Watching Matt sip his coffee Molly wondered exactly how he was going to be helping Kevin. She had managed to ask him what line of work he was in and he'd replied vaguely that it was business consultancy. She was none the wiser as she realised that could mean absolutely anything. She could only assume that Kevin would put her in the picture when he saw fit.

X-X-X-X

"You want me to do the course again?" Molly said, clearly incredulous at the idea that Kevin had just mooted about her accompanying Matt to Nant Glyn House next week where Kevin had arranged for him to undertake the management team building course along with a second group of CSF employees.

"No, love," Kevin responded with a laugh at her outburst, "just go along and observe the others. You've done the course and you know what's what. Just let me know how people respond. I've got an idea about making some staff changes and I'd like to see who the movers and shakers are among them. I'd go myself but I think I'd put them off. If anyone asks what you're doing you can just say you're there assisting Matthew."

Matt was grinning at her, obviously liking this idea.

"So, you want Matthew," she corrected herself, "Matt, to do the same course as everyone else so that he can appreciate what skills people are developing and then?" she looked at Kevin wondering what the point of this exercise was.

Before Kevin could answer, Matt interjected, "I'll devise some training and development programmes to take things further and build on what the employees have already learned but tailor it specifically for this business." She thought he sounded as if he was quoting from his own corporate brochure.

Without looking at Matt, Molly continued, "But you really want _me_ there to spy on the other employees?" She was trying to keep the emotion out of her voice but it was obvious to Kevin she didn't like the idea.

He sighed, "I don't really like that word, Molly. I don't want you to spy. I want you to give honest feedback. I trust your opinion and Matthew can't be everywhere if he's actually doing the course. You'll be free to move around a bit and keep an eye on everyone."

Molly was perplexed by this request and not entirely comfortable. In spite of what Kevin said it felt as if he was asking her to inform on some of her colleagues although what he was saying about intimidating his employees was true. When he had turned up on the last day of her course at Nant Glyn House everyone had felt a bit on edge, conscious that the 'boss' was wandering around watching. She knew it was typical of Kevin to want to see how his employees were getting on with the training. He believed in being as 'hands-on' as he could be and keeping an eye on the details. Perhaps there was some sense in sending Molly instead. Everyone knew her and she got on well with people. They didn't see her as threatening and if she said she was there at Kevin's request to assist Matt then they probably wouldn't question it too much.

"OK," Molly conceded, "I see that, but have Nant Glyn House been informed that I'll be there?"

Kevin smiled, "Anyone in particular?"

Molly tried to remain business-like, "I mean _anyone_, Kevin. They'll surely have to be happy with the idea of me floating about like a spare part."

"Well, I have had a word with Bing this morning, as it happens." Molly saw a sheepish look on his face. "I asked him if he'd mind you being there to help Matthew out and to be honest he wasn't too enamoured at first with the idea but when I said how sorry I felt for you and Charles being so far apart and thought it might be nice to give you a bit of time together, he was very accommodating." He smiled but Molly could see he was unsure of her reaction and expecting a comment from her. He had chosen his moment wisely. If it had been only the two of them in the room, boss or no boss, she would have let him know exactly how she felt about him using her relationship with Charles to further his own ends. After all, he'd always told her to be honest with him. She particularly disliked the possibility of Bing thinking she'd been begging Kevin to send her because she was some sort of lovesick puppy.

Molly stared at Kevin and was also conscious in the same moment of Matt giving her a curious sidelong glance taking in the new information about her boyfriend. She won the battle to keep her feelings under control and said in a level voice,

"I see. I suppose that's alright then, if Bing's happy."

Kevin nodded, grateful that she'd kept a lid on her emotions. "Good." He turned to Matt, "You'll have a chance to get to know Molly's chap, too, Matthew, because I asked if you could be put in his group for the week."

Matt turned his head to look at Molly, "I'll look forward to that." He held her gaze just long enough for her to wonder if his remark was quite as innocent as it sounded.

"Well, that's about all then for now, Molly. I just need to catch up on a few things with Matthew," Kevin said bringing her involvement with the meeting to an end.

Molly took the hint and left Kevin's office hearing him say as she closed the door, "Now then, Matthew, how's your old Dad?"

What she didn't hear him say to Matt a minute later was, "Now that Molly's left us, there's something else I'd like you to do while you're at Nant Glyn House."

X-X-X-X

_'Morning. I missed you last night. Sorry about the Bath idea. There's no rush. Whenever you want to meet Sam is fine. Hope your day is better than mine will be without you. C x'_

Charles sent the text to Molly hoping it would reach her as she was getting ready for work or eating her breakfast and wondered if she would reply to him. He'd found it hard to get to sleep last night despite being tired. He was still thinking about her reaction to his suggestion but he also missed her physical presence. He loved being with her especially at night. It had been a long time since he'd shared a bed with someone else and he'd become accustomed to his own space. As much as he cared deeply for Molly, he'd still wondered at first if the presence of someone else so close to him would disturb him but from that very first night three months ago he'd slept soundly. He felt safe, secure and relaxed with her beside him and it had surprised and cheered him.

When he had Rebecca had first met it had taken him time to get used to her being near him at night. He would sleep lightly, disturbed by her turning over or moving and almost feel relieved when she went home again after a night stopping over or a weekend together and he could catch up on sleep. Even after they had married, he'd found it hard to get used to her presence especially when he'd been away on exercise or on his first two tours. Until the last two tours in Afghanistan she'd always been pleased to see him back and said how much happier she felt now that he was at home with her again. However, he was often so unsettled in those first couple of weeks after his return that he would end up sleeping on the sofa only to be greeted by Rebecca's bemused expression in the morning a mixture of confusion and hurt that he didn't seem comfortable with her. In the end, the worsening of their relationship had put paid to any wish of hers to be in his company at night and after his third tour he'd moved straight into the spare room. By the end of his fourth tour he was facing the prospect of there being no one and nowhere to come home to except officers' quarters in barracks. The bullets to his leg and abdomen had prevented the playing out of such a dismal scene but had led to the extended period of solitary nights.

He waited for the alert on his phone to sound a response from Molly whilst he ate his breakfast of coco pops but there was nothing. He carried on eating in silence trying to reason that she was probably rushing about and, after all, she had to commute to work. She didn't have the advantage of simply opening the door and strolling a few hundred metres down to the House to start work. He realised that she had a very different life to him. Unlike the largely set pattern of his life here, supervising and leading similar activities each week, she was racing about from one place to the next, subject to Kevin's beck and call and never entirely sure what she would be doing day or night. She couldn't even predict with any certainty that she wouldn't be working at the weekend although Kevin did try not to encroach on her time then as much as possible. It was a pity that this weekend was an exception.

Kevin was a good boss. Once Charles had been set straight by him after he'd arrived at the hotel in Surrey on that fateful Saturday night, in a controlled state of outrage and jealousy, he'd been able to fully appreciate what a great impact Kevin had made on Molly's life and her future. Charles could see that she had the potential to make a great success of herself and achieve more than she had ever thought possible only a few years ago and it was Kevin's faith in her that had started this process in motion. The rest would be up to Molly but from what he could see she was seizing her opportunity with both hands and forging ahead. He was proud of her. If he had to wait out to hear from her, then so be it. He wanted her to be brilliant.

Enjoying his customary coffee on the terrace of Nant Glyn House before the morning meeting, Charles could clearly see the signs of Autumn in the landscape around him. The leaves on the trees were turning golden brown, there was a nip in the early morning air and the light was changing. Today a stiff breeze was blowing in an easterly direction across the lake towards the house and he shivered a little. He heard the lounge door squeak on its hinges as it was opened and then the sound of someone striding towards him. He knew who it would be.

"Morning, Charles. You're a lucky devil, you know."

Charles turned his head towards Bing with a querying look. Bing was grinning at him whilst rubbing his hands together to warm them. He had captured Charles' curiosity.

"Morning," Charles replied. "In what way am I lucky?"

"Well, how shall I put this? " Bing began. "You've either got powers of telepathy or you've possibly been talking to someone."

Charles was none the wiser and shook his head.

"I've just had Kevin Jones on the phone asking if I could accommodate a Miss Molly Dawes next week. He's sending her up here with a consultant who's working for him and wants to try out our course with the other CSF employees booked in next week. It seems she's going to be helping him out."

Charles was genuinely surprised but instantly delighted by the news and a smile overspread his face.

"Did you know?" Bing asked.

Charles shook his head, "Hadn't a clue. To be fair I don't think Molly did either. She didn't say anything to me and I'm sure she would have." He remembered Bing's words. "You don't think I've set this up, somehow, do you? I can assure you it's all news to me," he grinned. "I won't deny that it's good news, though."

"I must admit our conversation last night did cross my mind when I said yes," Bing paused. "OK, that and the full course fee Kevin offered to pay, even though Molly won't be taking part."

Charles shook his head, "And I thought you were all heart, Bing."

Bing laughed, "Never mix business with pleasure, Charles, that's probably the first rule."

X-X-X-X

It was mid-morning when Matt strolled up to Molly's desk and rather casually parked his neat butt on the return as he leaned across to reach for a pen from the holder situated next to Molly's laptop. She pointedly cleared her throat, irritated by his invasion of her personal space.

"Don't you have a gold-plated pen in your top pocket?" It was a dig at him but she hoped it sounded like a joke.

Matt laughed a little, "Why do you say that?"

Molly looked up catching his eye, "Sounds like the sort of thing you'd have."

Matt shrugged, "Appearances can be deceptive. You're wrong about that. In fact, you could be wrong about quite a few things, you know."

Molly said nothing and carried on typing. Matt fiddled with the pen in his hand and tapped it lightly on the desk.

"So, tell me about this boyfriend of yours."

Molly stopped typing and turned to him, "What do you want to know?"

"Have you known him long?"

She gave him a straight reply, "About six months."

"How did you meet?"

It was a difficult question to answer honestly and not wishing to cast either herself or Charles in a poor light, she glossed over all the circumstances of their first meeting. She wasn't going to confess to Matt that there had been a drunken 'almost' one-night-stand. Instead she referred to them having met in passing before the course and then getting to know each other better during the week at Nant Glyn House.

"He's an ex-army man, I gather, and wounded in Afghanistan," Matt commented.

Molly nodded, "Yes, that's why he left the army."

Matt was quiet for a few seconds and seemed to be reflecting on this.

"It's tough giving up something you love." He paused. "In fact, it must be tough being away from someone you love." He gave Molly a searching look and she felt her cheeks reddening. She cleared her throat again unsure how to answer or even if he required an answer.

"I guess he's the type of guy you can trust, then?"

Molly was irritated. What kind of question was that intended to be? She looked at him without any attempt to disguise her annoyance.

"Yes, I trust Charles, completely. If you knew him you'd realise that's the type of man he is."

Matt looked slightly taken aback, "OK, Molly, I get it." He smiled trying to smooth things over and said, "What about you?"

"What about me?" she asked. How dare he question the honesty of her relationship with Charles? He didn't know him and he hardly knew her.

Matt shook his head, "I meant, can _I _trust you?" He paused seeing hostility in her face and he smirked, "to help me out all week. Kevin would like you to assist me in any way you can."

Molly stared at Matt. If this exchange was any indication of the way working together was going to be, then the week ahead would seem very long indeed. The thought of being in close company with Matt all week and possibly at the weekend as well, followed by another week at Nant Glyn House was not one she relished. Charles was the one saving grace. Thank goodness she would be with him next week and it would make everything bearable. She was grateful as she had a strong suspicion that without Charles' steadying influence she might be in real danger of getting herself sacked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Oh my God. Who is that gorgeous man?" Kate Allen whispered, her eyes widening in appreciation at the sight of Matt Parker sitting opposite Mike Robinson on the far side of the office. She had just walked in after visiting a client first thing in the morning.

Molly's voice was equally low as she replied, "That's Matt, 'Mr Nosey', Parker."

She nodded her head meaningfully in the direction of the kitchen, a movement she had unconsciously copied from Charles. Kate put her coat and bag down on her desk and followed Molly. She stepped inside the Kitchen and Molly closed the door as far as she dared without raising the suspicions of Sasha whose desk was the closest to them.

"It sounds as if you don't like Matt," Kate said not hiding the incredulity in her voice.

"Well, it's fair to say that I've never met anyone who asked so many questions and wants to know the ins and outs of everything. Mike'll be lucky if he escapes from him in less than two hours," Molly shrugged.

It was Wednesday and Molly was accompanying Matt on a series of branch office visits. He was conducting detailed interviews with managers and some of the other senior staff. Matt had spent the rest of Monday morning drawing up a timetable of contacts and visits before launching into meetings at Head Office with some of the senior team. At least it had taken him away from Molly's work space for a few hours and allowed her to regain her composure after feeling thoroughly wound up by his questions about Charles. Matt had taken full of advantage of the fact that Kevin had placed Molly at his disposal and he'd had her calling around to all the branches making appointments for him starting from Tuesday. She had been happy enough to undertake this task but was surprised when Matt asked her to accompany him to the branches as well. She had queried this with Kevin.

"Surely he doesn't need me to hold his hand?"

Kevin had frowned and shaken his head slightly, "It's not about holding his hand. As you must have noticed he's a big boy now, Molly. It's about smoothing the way, introducing him and letting people know I'm behind this and support what he's doing. I want the staff to feel comfortable to talk to him and be honest. Matthew's help comes at a hefty price and I want to make the most of it." He cleared his throat. "Just think of yourself as being _me_ on these visits."

Molly wondered if he was joking as she wanted to laugh at the idea of being a female Kevin Jones but he had uttered the sentence with a straight face and appeared to be in earnest. She decided to take it as a compliment that he wanted her to represent him and another vote of faith in her although the thought of spending several days traipsing around in Matt's wake simply introducing and smoothing the way seemed a bit pointless until Kevin handed her a file of tasks to undertake at each branch to report back to him at the end of the week; her time would not be completely wasted.

Thanks to Matt's discourse on personal time management on Monday morning, Molly hadn't seen Charles' text message until lunchtime that day when, managing to escape from a working lunch with him and Kevin, she had slunk away to catch up on some of her work. She was warmed by Charles' message as well as racked with guilt that she hadn't remembered to text him on Sunday evening as she had planned. She sent back a message straight away,

_'I'd much rather be with you. I'm still not sure about the weekend but will try to let you know soon. Missing you. Molly x'_

"So what's the story on Matt, then?" Kate asked.

Molly chose her words carefully. Kate was her good friend but she had a professional loyalty to Kevin now.

"He's working for Kevin and will be putting together a training and development plan for the company."

"And?" Kate wasn't happy with this information alone.

"Nothing, unless you mean he's persistent, never seems to stop talking, asks endless questions and, in my opinion, is quite annoying."

Kate pulled a face at this but added, "Easy on the eye, though."

Molly couldn't help smiling. Kate was incorrigible. "I suppose that is one redeeming feature," she conceded, "but Kevin's sending me to Nant Glyn House with Matt next week. He'll drive me mad."

Kate laughed, "I'm sure there'll be some other compensation. What did Sir Charles say?"

Molly remembered the conversation with Charles on Monday evening. She'd looked forward to telling him her news all day and when she had, he confessed that he already knew.

"Bing told me this morning," he'd said, "but I'm just as happy, no, make that even happier to hear it directly from you."

She could tell from his voice how pleased he was that she would be staying there next week and she was already looking forward to it herself. She toyed with the idea of telling him it hadn't been her idea for Kevin to beg Bing for a favour but decided to let it rest. She hadn't meant to upset Charles on Sunday afternoon and although he had tried to appear cool about the whole Bath visit idea she knew he had been troubled by her response. She had decided that now was a good time to raise the matter and said,

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you an answer about next weekend. I really do want to meet Sam and I'm pleased that you asked me, really I am. It's just that I don't know what I might have to do at the weekend. It's a bit of a busy time and I can't make plans. I don't want to let you both down at the last minute." She paused, hoping Charles would understand.

He listened and heard the honesty in her voice particularly when she mentioned Sam. He didn't doubt that she meant what she said and his heart lifted. He had been genuinely worried last night and even more so when she didn't answer his text message until well past midday.

"It's fine Molly. Honestly. Like I said, there's no rush. The right time will happen."

Molly had been relieved. They had talked a little while longer and she'd told him about fetching Matt from the airport at six o'clock in the morning and her first impressions. Charles appeared to listen with interest having already been told by Bing that he would be getting to know Matt properly next week.

"He sounds like an interesting, guy," Charles remarked.

"That's one word for him, I suppose," Molly agreed. She didn't want to tell Charles about the occasional flirtatious sounding remarks Matt had made, partly because she wasn't entirely sure if he was being flirtatious or simply had a strange sense of humour that she didn't understand yet. He knew she had a boyfriend and one he was going to meet, so she decided the wisest course of action was to say nothing and just ignore the remarks.

When Molly found herself apologising again for not being free at the weekend, Charles said in a quiet gentle tone,

"Stop beating yourself up about this. You've got your hands full with your work and it's an important time for you. The last thing I want to do is make any extra demands on you. I understand."

Molly had almost felt like crying, realising how fortunate she was to have met such a kind and supportive man. When her mind drifted back briefly to her previous boyfriend, 'Rick the Prick' or the one before that, she could hardly believe her luck.

Her voice shook slightly as she said, "That means such a lot to me, Charles. Not everyone would understand like that."

There had been a moment's silence and then he had replied, "Well, it's their loss. I'm with you Molly, one hundred per cent, never doubt that. "

She smiled again at the memory of the conversation and Kate waiting patiently for her response said, "I'm guessing that 'pleased' would cover Charles' reaction to the news that you'll be available to canoodle with him all next week."

Molly stared at her and said with a mock serious expression, "I'm going along to assist Matt should he have any work that needs doing."

Kate actually sniggered at this declaration. "We'll see. You're honestly telling me that you will be sitting in the bar in the evening typing away on your laptop whilst Matt dictates notes and gives you research to do." She raised her eyebrows. Molly was worried that Kate was hinting at the other more secretive reason for her being there and was about to deflect her with a swift denial when Kate said, "If you aren't able to tell me what the inside of Charles' bachelor pad looks like by the end of the week then you don't have the sense I credited you with."

It was true that Molly hadn't been back to Nant Glyn House since the course in June and she'd never seen the inside of Charles apartment. Her thoughts briefly returned to that moment in the woods during the night exercise when he had asked her to go back with him. She recalled how her indignation at the apparent arrogance of a married man thinking he could behave like that had spilled over, causing an angry verbal backlash from her. She knew that the anger had been directed just as much in her own direction, believing herself to be weak and stupid as well as tempted by the idea. She had been wrong on that occasion, of course, having misunderstood so much about Charles including believing he was married. She supposed that if everything had been different she might have risked the scandal of being caught staying over in one of the instructor's rooms, although, looking back, it wouldn't have been a good move for Charles. She appreciated now how much he must have felt for her to put his professional obligations to one side. She could feel a warm glow creeping across her face and Kate must have seen it too.

"You've thought it too, admit it."

Molly merely smiled and drawing two fingers across her mouth indicated she was keeping her thoughts zipped

"So, will I be forced to endure a grilling from Matt today as well?" Kate said with a cheeky glint in her eye.

"Probably, if you're very unlucky," Molly said, "Although in your case I suppose that would be lucky."

Kate reached out to open the kitchen door but dropped some papers tucked under her arm. She bent down to pick them up off of the floor just as Matt appeared in the doorway looking for Molly.

Kate stood up hurriedly and then seemed to stumble a little taking a few steps towards Matt who put out an arm to steady her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said keeping hold of his arm, "I was just a bit dizzy for a moment." She smiled at him and said, "Hello, I'm Kate Allen, the Assistant Branch Manager."

Molly watched in silence. She couldn't believe the audacity of her friend. Matt appeared to be taken in by Kate's performance as he was expressing his concern and advising her to sit down for a while. Molly's opinion of him dropped a few notches, not that it had been very high in the first place. She was further incensed when having seen Kate sitting down at her desk Matt called to Molly,

"You couldn't bring Kate her drink, could you?"

Molly had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from retorting, 'Tell her to get her own bloody drink' but instead she gave Kate a sickly sweet smile and fetched the drink, managing to slop some onto the desk as she placed it none too carefully in front of her. Fortunately, Matt had turned his back to talk to Sasha at the time and didn't see Molly bend over Kate's desk and whisper to her,

"Don't lay it on too thick!"

As Molly straightened up again, Matt turned to her, "I was looking for you to ask if you could arrange for some lunch to be brought in. I thought it might be good to have a team meeting at lunchtime and get everyone's thoughts on what benefits the branch has felt from the last course which you attended with Mike and Kate. I understand that Sasha's going on the course next week, so it will be good to have a discussion. Can you sort that lunch for, say, twelve thirty?"

Molly nodded. She glanced in Sasha's direction. She seemed to have grown in confidence in the last three months since her promotion to Consultant. She was beaming at Matt and was clearly very impressed by him. She looked more assured, seemed to have adopted a more mature business-like style of dress in keeping with her elevated status and visits to clients and was sporting a new grown-up short hair style rather than wearing her hair in the long, loose girlish fashion which had been her 'look' since joining CSF two years ago straight from college.

Molly had nothing against Sasha but she was irrationally annoyed by her manner today. She couldn't remember having the same self-confidence as Sasha when she had been promoted although no one would have guessed. She had been quite good at blagging her way out of difficult work situations until she had learned the proper way of handling problems. Perhaps it was a moment of wistfulness, remembering how much she had liked working here and a feeling of resentment that Sasha had taken her place. Molly sometimes got the impression that Sasha was none too pleased whenever she turned up at the branch to say hello which happened most weeks. She had once caught part of a conversation between Sasha and Jo in the kitchen in which Sasha had suggested that Molly might be trying to keep the door open for a return if things didn't work out with Kevin. That had only made Molly more determined to make a success of her new job.

She shook herself from her thoughts and decided to go and get the lunch organised. She left the office and crossed the road to _'Jackie's'. _The bell rang as she entered and Jackie, who was serving a customer across the room, looked over and called,

"Morning, Molly, love. I'll be with you in a minute."

Molly stood by the counter. She liked to call in whenever she visited the branch. Jackie had played her part in bringing Molly and Charles together, being his willing co-conspirator in delivering his letter to the branch and clearing up the misunderstanding over the identity of Charles' attractive and glamorous companion at the Charity Ball.

Molly had met Giselle, Ade's girlfriend, once more since that night when she and Charles had had lunch with them both one Saturday when they were all in town. Molly had assumed from her first brief encounter with Giselle at the ball that she wouldn't like her very much having formed the opinion that she was wealthy, idle and possessed an affected manner of speaking and behaving that would grate on her nerves within a few minutes. She had been very pleasantly surprised to discover that, although Giselle was undoubtedly wealthy and couldn't really help some of her speech and mannerisms which had formed over many years, there was nothing to really dislike about her. She was kind, thoughtful, listened to other people, had an opinion on many subjects beyond merely fashion and her social engagements and seemed to like Molly very much. Nevertheless, Molly couldn't help being glad that Giselle appeared to be very much in love with Ade because she still hadn't quite the confidence in herself to believe that given a straight choice between them Charles would have chosen Molly.

Molly had none of the social advantages of Giselle; certainly not the physical attributes in height or model girl figure and hadn't enjoyed a privileged education. She knew that no one would ever accuse her of being affected, quite the opposite, having spent a lot of time developing the skills necessary to operate effectively in the business world without alienating everyone she encountered. She certainly had a proper grasp of the real world and no illusions about how tough life could be. When she thought about where she had come from she struggled to believe that someone like Charles was interested in her. _Interested. _ It was such a bland word. Anyone could be interested in something. It was akin to comparing his feelings for her to an enjoyment of stamp collecting or some other hobby. She knew he felt more for her than that and when she had told Matt in no uncertain terms on Monday that she trusted Charles, she had spoken from the heart. However, it was true that Charles had never expressed exactly how he felt about her. He said nice things to her, he told her often that he missed her, he always seemed to look forward to being with her and she knew that he was definitely physically attracted to her but whether all of this was love on his part she didn't know.

She knew that she felt much more for Charles than either of her two previous boyfriends. She knew that she hadn't loved them. She had been caught out by Rick and allowed him to dazzle her to the point she hadn't noticed how inconsistent and unreliable he was. She had been so wrapped up by the idea of meeting someone exciting and successful who fancied her that she'd been unrealistic about the future with him. She had learned from her mistake and she had her eyes open this time. She knew that Charles was a man worth ten of the Rick's of this world and she wanted everything to work out between them but she felt that they both needed time, particularly Charles having only been divorced earlier this year. She couldn't expect too much too soon. It was still early days and they didn't really see each other enough to know all these things yet.

"How's that lovely chap of yours?" Jackie enquired, her eyelids fluttering and her hand placed across her heart in a mock gesture of a swoon at the very thought of Charles.

Molly giggled, "He's very well, thank you, Jackie."

Jackie tutted, "It's a shame you don't see a lot of each other. Mind you, absence makes the heart grow fonder, they do say." She sighed and Molly wondered whether she was referring to Molly's feelings or her own.

"Well, as a matter of fact I'll be seeing him all next week, because I'm off to stay in North Wales, again," Molly advised.

"Oh, how romantic. Gosh, I wish I was a few years younger, "Jackie cried, "strolling hand in hand across the windswept mountains and moors."

She was getting carried away and Molly started to laugh, "That sounds like one of those daft bloody films in Victorian times or something."

Jackie sighed, "Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice. A dashing, rugged hero and a beautiful, plucky heroine."

Molly shook her head, "Now I know you're not talking about me. Charles would be alright as the hero but I'm definitely not one of those women."

She was scoffing at the idea but Jackie reached out and placing her hand on Molly's arm said, "To Charles you are. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, don't forget that." She nodded meaningfully.

Molly couldn't help feeling that although Jackie meant the comment to sound kind and reassuring it was something of a backhanded compliment.

Snapping out of her wistful thoughts, Jackie said, "Now then, what did you really come in for, love?"

"A lunch order, Jackie," Molly told her, "but thanks for the wise words."

Jackie smiled at her, "Well, the food comes with a charge but the advice I throw in as a freebie."

When Molly returned to the office across the road she was greeted with unexpected enthusiasm by Sasha.

"Oh Molly, you're back just in time to save the day."

Molly was taken aback but suspicious at the same time. "What do you mean?"

"We've just persuaded Matt to come to the Pub Quiz tonight at The Red Lion but we're one short because Kate has dropped out. If you take her place you can be the fourth member of the team with me and Mike."

Molly couldn't imagine a worse prospect. Why on earth Sasha would want to join them for a pub quiz apart from the obvious draw of Matt, she had no idea. She started to shake her head.

"I dunno. Me and school didn't exactly get on."

She saw Sasha smile to herself as if not surprised by this news and it annoyed Molly.

"But if you're short of someone, maybe I could. Just this once."

"OK." Sasha said with a bright smile, "It starts at eight thirty."

Molly wandered over to Kate, "Why did you back out? I thought you would have jumped at the chance to spend the evening with Nosey Parker."

Kate shrugged, "I don't feel quite myself. I think I might be going down with something."

X-X-X-X

Charles laughed when Molly lamented her foolhardiness in agreeing to join the Pub Quiz team. He had called her as she was getting ready to go out. She was sitting on the bed dressed only in her underwear with the wardrobe doors open in front of her, trying to decide what to put on. She mentioned as much to Charles and frustrated by the mental image he groaned,

"God, I miss you when I'm up here. It's like being away on tour again. It's not fair to tell me you're practically naked when you're two hundred miles away. I wish I was there to help you choose your outfit."

Molly giggled, "If you were here I expect it would take too long."

Charles gave a deep chuckle, "As long as you wanted."

Molly sighed, thinking of being with him last weekend and wishing now that she hadn't been so cross on Sunday morning. What she wouldn't give to be back in bed with him now instead of preparing to go for a night out with a group of people she wasn't desperately keen to spend time with.

"I miss you too," she said, "I can't wait to see you next week. I've just got to get to the end of the weekend first without losing my temper."

"Is this Matt guy really that bad?" Charles asked.

"You'll find out next week. He's relentless," Molly replied. "Relentlessly irritating."

X-X-X-X

The pub quiz was more fun than Molly had expected. Making sure that she didn't arrive until five minutes before it was due to start she managed to reduce the amount of time she had to spend in the company of the rest of the team before the quiz claimed their full attention. After three days her opinion of Matt had become fairly entrenched. She had acknowledged to herself on Monday that he wasn't necessarily boring or highly opinionated but her view of him being a 'smart-ass' still existed and it was this that irritated her most. She wasn't surprised that he had agreed to take part in a pub quiz, assuming that it would give him ample opportunity to display his superior knowledge on all manner of subjects.

As for Mike, her former Manager, Molly had always liked him. He was a good-hearted, family man who had been supportive to Molly but he had a tendency to overload most conversations with tales of his domestic trials and tribulations and relied heavily on anecdotes relating to his three young daughters. Molly had heard him talking at length today about how Phoebe, his eldest, had recently joined the Scouts and he had then reminisced about his boyhood for nearly twenty minutes.

Sasha was the one Molly couldn't fathom. Molly had spent two years working alongside her when she had joined CSF after leaving college. She had done her job well and appeared to be efficient and organised, although she had seemed fairly quiet. However, in an office dominated by Kate's lively personality, anyone might suffer by comparison. Sasha seemed to have been emboldened by her promotion. Molly realised that having someone displaying faith in you, the way both Kevin and Charles had displayed their faith in her, certainly increased your confidence. Perhaps in Sasha she was just seeing a new more confident person emerging from the shell of a rather quiet administrator. Molly felt that she had been wrong to be annoyed by Sasha's manner earlier today. She knew she ought to give the girl more of a chance and be happy for her. If taking part in a pub quiz with colleagues was part of Sasha's new persona then she Molly make an effort to be supportive.

However, it didn't take Molly more than about ten minutes to see that Sasha was smitten by Matt, whether he knew it or not and Molly suspected that he knew it. If he was half as astute as he believed himself to be, he would be recognising the signals Sasha was giving and be lapping it up although Molly couldn't detect anything obvious from his manner. He was being polite and attentive to both Mike and Sasha but there was no over familiarity. Molly now knew why Sasha had been so keen to ask her to join the quiz team. If Molly hadn't agreed they wouldn't have been able to put a team together at all.

Predictably Matt was knowledgeable on many topics, particularly Geography and food but even he didn't know everything, having been out of the country for quite some time. Molly surprised herself by contributing quite a few correct answers to questions on music and popular culture. Mike knew a lot about sport and politics and it transpired that Sasha had studied A' Level History and had excelled on questions about nineteenth century Britain as well as Television. They had done well, finishing second and each winning a bottle of inferior quality wine as a prize. Thankfully, they had enjoyed the competitiveness and it had bonded them as a team. They stayed on for half an hour for a drink after the quiz ended before preparing to go their separate ways.

Standing on the pavement outside the pub, Sasha declared, "You're going my way, aren't you, Matt?"

Matt shrugged, "I don't know, am I?"

Molly wanted to laugh. Sasha had clearly made up her mind that she and Matt were going to catch the same tube train. A mischievous thought occurred to her and maintaining an expression of total innocence, she said, "Yes, I think you are on the same line."

Molly saw Sasha's eyes widen in gratitude for the unexpected intervention in her favour.

Matt looked at Molly without speaking for a few seconds before clearing his throat and saying, "Well, I suppose it's good night then. I'll see you tomorrow."

Molly nodded, "Yeah, goodnight, Matt."

He shook hands with Mike, "Thanks for today and this evening, Mike, it was enjoyable."

"Our pleasure. It was good to meet you," Mike replied.

Molly marvelled at the way everyone seemed charmed by Matt. He clearly had a gift for winning people over, perhaps that was why Kevin had hired him. He wasn't winning her over, though. Unlike the others she had spent a lot of time in his company this week and she had a different opinion.

As Matt and Sasha strolled away in the direction of the tube station, Mike turned to Molly with a frown, clearly confused by something.

"Sasha's route home doesn't go anywhere near Matt's hotel, does it?"

Molly gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head and rolled her eyes. Men could be so naive. She turned to Mike and said in a quiet, patient tone as if she was speaking to a child, "Oh, it does now."

X-X-X-X

It was just after midnight and Molly was about to turn the light off and go to sleep when she heard the message alert on her phone sound. She was surprised as Charles didn't usually send texts late at night. He was considerate and he didn't like to disturb her sleep. When she looked to see who the message sender was, she was even more surprised; it was Matt.

_'I suppose you think that was funny? Thanks, but Sasha's not my type!'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Charles wasn't sure what had given him the idea but by the time he had reached Rebecca's house to collect Sam on Saturday morning, he had decided upon taking him to London for the day. Perhaps it was the subconscious need to be near Molly even if they couldn't meet this weekend. Knowing she would be with him in North Wales next week had relaxed Charles. He was content to be with Sam and enjoy his company and he didn't think his son had ever been to the Natural History Museum. At seven years of age he was old enough now to enjoy and appreciate the experience.

Rebecca seemed to be in an equally good mood when she opened the front door of the smart, modern executive home that she shared with her new partner, Rob. Although Charles normally waited for Sam in the hall he had once or twice been invited beyond its confines to take in the modern elegance of the sleek open-plan lounge, kitchen and dining room which overlooked the landscaped gardens at the rear of the house. The contemporary style of the house reflected Rebecca's tastes. She had once mentioned that Rob had allowed her to redesign the house as she wished when she and Sam had moved in and Charles hadn't liked to hazard a guess at exactly how much Rob must have spent in helping Rebecca to settle in to her new home. He wasn't there today. Rebecca informed Charles in passing that he had gone up north for the day to one of Bristol City's away matches.

"Anything planned, as you have the place to yourself, then?" Charles asked, his good humour even extending to his ex-wife.

Rebecca smiled in return, an open, friendly smile, the kind he remembered from long ago. It was the same smile she had cast in his direction the first time they had met when they were both nineteen year old students in the University Union bar. It was a brief moment of nostalgia that somehow pushed all the pain and disagreement of recent years to the fringes of his memory. For a moment he saw the old Rebecca and felt a deep regret for the mess they had made of everything, apart from bringing Sam into the world. They both worked hard at keeping things calm and civilised for his sake and he was growing up to be a happy and grounded boy despite his parents' divorce.

To Charles' delight, Rebecca had eventually agreed to Sam spending a week with him last month at Nant Glyn House during the summer holidays. They had stayed with Bing and Sarah at the Lodge House and Sam had thoroughly enjoyed himself, particularly as he had made friends with Bing and Sarah's two children, Nat and Emily, who were of a similar age to him. He had enjoyed the cycling trails through the woods, canoeing on the lake, tackling the low ropes courses and even a bit of hill walking over some easy mountain tracks on a day out with Charles, Bing and Nat. It had been good for them to spend some concentrated time together and he was grateful to Rebecca for allowing him that time. She had, of course, made full use of the week to take a last minute break in the sun with Rob but Charles didn't begrudge her that holiday. She did the lion's share of caring for Sam and he knew he wouldn't be able to do his current job if that wasn't the case. She had her difficult moments, the times when Charles found discussing matters with her awkward and she would delay making a decision, for reasons known only to herself, but he knew that she had never put her own interests before their son's needs and he respected her for that.

Rebecca replied to his enquiry in a goodnatured tone of voice,

"I'm off for a spa pamper day with the girls, seeing as Rob won't be back until late."

Charles knew 'the girls' of course, Melissa and Catriona. They were Rebecca's two oldest friends and they had been her bridesmaids, her confidantes and at one point close to the break-up of their marriage when things had been very strained between them, Charles had, in a bad tempered moment, referred to them in the Officers' Mess as 'The Witches Coven'. It wasn't fair, of course, he realised that they had known Rebecca far longer than they had known him and it was only natural that they took her side when the marriage broke down. He had quite liked them once, he recalled, but it was all immaterial now.

"Well, have a good time and say 'Hello' from me." He didn't know why he'd said that. It was quite unnecessary and the look of surprise on Rebecca's face told him as much.

"You seem to be in a good mood today, Charles," she observed.

He shrugged, "It happens, sometimes."

He hadn't told Rebecca about Molly; there seemed no need. Molly hadn't met Sam yet so there had been no reason to inform her. For selfish reasons he had wanted to keep Molly to himself for as long as was reasonable. He didn't want to share his happiness with his ex-wife and she was sure to want to know more details about a woman with whom her son was going to be spending time.

Sam appeared at the top of the stairs. He was excited to see his father and rushed to make his way downstairs dragging his bag behind him, bumping it over every step.

"Sam, don't do that," Rebecca remonstrated concerned about damage to the woodwork.

Sam ignored her and carried on descending at speed towards his father, calling out, "Hello, Dad. What are we doing today?"

Charles contained his news until he and Sam had said goodbye to Rebecca and were sitting in the car. "How would you like a ride on the train today, Scamp, and a day out in London?"

He was left in no doubt that his plans met Sam's approval as the boy let out a whoop of joy on hearing the suggestion.

Sam enjoyed the train ride and sat next to the window watching the countryside whizzing by. They made good time into Paddington and he was almost disappointed when the journey came to an end. Charles couldn't remember the last time Sam had been on the underground, if at all, and this became another source of great excitement for the boy. Watching his son experience all these things brought the enjoyment back to Charles afresh. He began to see everything through the eyes of a young child. London was very different to the places with which Sam was familiar. To him the thought of travelling in a train below the streets and houses was a thrilling adventure. Standing on the platform and hearing the click and rattle of the rails indicating the imminent arrival of a train, Charles found himself staring into the darkness of the tunnel at the end of the platform, just like Sam, watching for the first lights of the next train to appear. But this was nothing to the sight of Sam, in the tube train after the doors had closed and it had begun to pull away from the platform, almost sitting on the edge of his seat anticipating the moment they would enter the tunnel and speed through the darkness on the way to their destination.

The museum was fun for both of them. Sam was inquisitive, absorbed information quickly and was interested in all the exhibits about the natural world, amazed by the dinosaur skeletons and mammals and keen to whizz through the galleries, flitting about from one place to another looking at everything even if he didn't necessarily understand what he read or saw. Charles had to work hard to keep up with him as he darted about and often had to call him back to look at something he had missed. It was a good afternoon and the hours passed very quickly.

By the time they came out of the museum it was late afternoon and they were both hungry and ready for some dinner. It wouldn't matter if they were late back this evening. It was Sunday tomorrow and Sam could sleep-in late. In any case, as Charles' parents were away he and Sam could please themselves. They decided to find somewhere to eat. Charles remembered a very good Mexican restaurant he and Molly had been to in the West End but he wasn't sure that Sam would like the food. However, he remembered that a few doors down there was a swanky, American style Diner complete with jukebox and 1950's style waiters and waitresses. He thought Sam would enjoy that and they headed down to the underground to make their way there.

X-X-X-X

When Matt had told Molly late on Friday afternoon that he would definitely need her assistance on Saturday and had asked her to come into the office for ten o'clock, she wasn't surprised but was glad that she'd been right to tell Charles that she wouldn't be free at the weekend, particularly after all that business over meeting Sam last week. She was glad that she hadn't put Charles and Sam off for nothing. She was relieved that Matt had at least allowed her a small lie-in but she still wasn't looking forward to having to give up her Saturday. She also suspected that Matt would find a reason for them to work on Sunday as well. He seemed to be just that type of person and being a consultant working away from home she supposed that working at the weekend made little difference to him.

Dressed casually in jeans, a loose shirt and her favourite jacket she'd made her way into the office, buying herself a coffee en route. In her naivety she assumed that they would probably finish work in time for lunch or at least get something delivered to the office; neither happened.

Arriving at the office shortly before ten, Molly was waylaid for five minutes chatting to Dave, the security guard, on the front desk. He had a daughter who was Molly's age and he was keen to share with her a few concerns he and his wife had about Steph's social life and ask Molly for her opinion. She tried to sound reassuring although she had no idea what his daughter was like or whether her opinion would carry any weight. She realised that Dave was only trying to pass the time in a very boring and solitary job and indulged him for a few minutes not wishing to seem aloof. When she finally made it into the office she found Matt ensconced at her desk, laptop open and, by the looks of it, having been in residence there for some time already. He was casually dressed in jeans and a pale mauve open neck shirt. He glanced up at her as she approached and she caught sight of his eyes and realised for the first time they were almost violet. The mauve of his shirt really picked out the colour and she couldn't help herself wondering for a second if he was wearing it deliberately for that reason. She thought idly to herself, "I bet he's been on some course which tells you how to dress for success."

"You're late," he said in neutral voice.

"Well, it's Saturday," Molly replied waving her hands in the air as if that was explanation enough.

He regarded her for a few seconds as if weighing up her response before saying, "Well, I'm sure you can make up for that. You couldn't just nip out and get me a skinny latte, could you?"

Molly stared at him. "Is that a joke?"

"Do you see me laughing?" There was just enough of a hint of seriousness in his response for Molly to bite her tongue and take him at his word.

"OK." She turned around and went straight back out again, thankfully missing the smirk on Matt's face accompanied by a chuckle as the office door shut behind her. He hadn't forgotten Wednesday night when Molly had put him in an awkward position with Sasha. Molly had said nothing about the text message he had sent her and he hadn't mentioned it either but it was enough for him to let her know that he hadn't been fooled by her mischief making.

Molly stomped out to the café around the corner, fuming at his attitude. What a nerve. Why couldn't he get his own bloody coffee on the way here? Kevin might have put her at his disposal in order to help him out but she wasn't sure he had meant her to be running around at his beck and call fetching coffees. By the time she returned she was determined not to fetch him anything else and if he didn't ask her for any proper help which justified her spending her Saturday at work she resolved to go home, promise or no promise to Kevin.

She put the coffee down on the desk in front of Matt.

"Thanks. That's very good of you." He gave her a beaming smile, showing those beautifully even, white teeth and said,

"Now, if you'll sit down here, " he indicated the chair next to him, "We'll start to build the staff profiles."

For the next five hours without a break, Matt systematically ran through the staff, branch by branch and with Molly's assistance started to build up personal profiles on each person. He loaded information into a programme on his laptop. Molly searched for all the relevant data and filled in some of the gaps from her own knowledge as well as helping him to build up the reporting relationships between colleagues. It was detailed and absorbing work and Matt was thorough and painstaking. For once he kept his comments and questions specifically to the task in hand. There were no smart remarks, flirtatious or cryptic comments and Molly saw a professional at work and began to appreciate what he was trying to do. The time passed more quickly than she had expected and when she glanced at her watch to see it was after three o'clock she was shocked and suddenly realised she was also quite hungry. Sitting back in her chair she yawned and stretched. Matt looked up at the clock on the wall.

"God, is that the time. I didn't realise we'd gone on so long, but we've got a lot done and that's mainly thanks to you. It would have taken me two or three days to get this together without your help." He gave her a genuine smile and then yawned, laughing a little at himself. "Sorry, it's catching."

He picked up a few papers from the desk and leafed through them.

"I reckon with another hour or so and we could finish this."

At that moment Molly's stomach growled with hunger and she started to giggle, embarrassed at the noise in the empty office. "Sorry, it's been a long time since breakfast."

"Yeah, you're right," Matt agreed. He stretched his arms out to the side, exhaled and then clasping his hands behind his head said, "How about, we finish this off and then I take you out for some dinner. You've earned it. Only you'll have to suggest somewhere, after all, it's your town."

Molly couldn't deny that she was absolutely starving and for once, in spite of the initial incident over the coffee at the start of the morning which had almost caused her to stage a walk-out, Matt had been reasonable company and hadn't said or done anything more to annoy her. Part of her still wanted to decline but the rumbling in her stomach weakened her resolve and she gave in.

"OK, you're on."

They carried on with the work for almost another hour and a half until Matt somewhat theatrically pressed the enter key on his laptop and declared, "All done." He turned to Molly.

"Great work, Miss Dawes. Couldn't have done it without you."

Molly was almost ravenous with hunger now and the thought of a meal was the only thing that had kept her going for the last forty-five minutes.

"So, where shall we eat?" Matt asked shutting his laptop and leaning back in his chair.

"I know a great Mexican place," Molly said. "Do you like Mexican food?"

Matt grinned, "Like it? I absolutely, love it!"

X-X-X-X

Charles emerged from the underground station holding Sam's hand tightly in the crowd. It was busy and he didn't want to risk them being separated. Outside on the pavement it was a little calmer and they strolled along together, side by side, making their way to the Diner whilst discussing the varying merits of different types of burger and trying to decide between having a coke or a chocolate milkshake. As they approached the Mexican restaurant Charles had previously visited with Molly, he couldn't help glancing in through the window, thinking about the last time they had eaten there and the night that had followed. He smiled to himself at the memory and was glad Sam couldn't see his face. They had almost walked past when he was struck by the sight of a dark-haired young woman sitting near the window with a good-looking, blonde-haired man. He must have Molly on the brain he thought, it was hardly surprising but he turned to look again and his heart leapt. It _was_ Molly. He stopped on the pavement and carried on watching the couple. She was looking at the man intently as he was talking and then he must have said something funny because she burst out laughing and tipped her head back slightly, the way she did when she was really amused. The man was smiling too. Charles felt someone tug his hand. Glancing down he saw Sam's upturned face,

"What are you looking at Dad?"

Charles shook his head, "Nothing, Scamp."

He didn't know what to do. His first reaction had been to go in and speak to her but seeing Sam standing next to him his thoughts turned to the awkwardness of interrupting her and introducing his son without any warning, especially after the conversation that had taken place this week. She might not like being put at a disadvantage and he knew how she liked to be prepared for things. On the other hand, she was obviously free to be out and about in spite of what she had said about being unavailable this weekend, which was strange. He hadn't got a clue who the man was or why Molly was there with him. He supposed that the man might be the consultant she had mentioned but judging by everything she had said, Charles thought she couldn't stand him. She certainly seemed to like this man which made it seem unlikely.

Charles knew he was in an awkward position. Now that he had seen Molly, he desperately wanted to talk to her. He couldn't just pass by and pretend to himself that he hadn't seen her but how would his sudden unexplained appearance look to her? Marching into a crowded restaurant was out of the question but he realised that there was something he could do. He wandered down the pavement a little way out of sight of the restaurant, took out his phone and then dialled Molly's number.

There was a very long pause before the phone was answered and Charles was on the point of ending the call when he heard Molly's voice.

"Hello, Charles?" Her voice seemed to be echoing and he couldn't hear the sound of any Mexican music playing in the background.

"Hi, Molly. I'm sorry to spring this on you but I'm up in London for the day with Sam. We've been to the Natural History Museum." He paused.

"That's nice."

He thought she sounded a bit flustered or perhaps she wasn't convinced it was a great day out for a seven year old.

"The thing is, I know we hadn't made any plans but I wondered if you might possibly be free for an hour or two and we could have a meal together. You know, all meet on neutral ground as such."

There was silence. Charles wondered if the phone had cut out.

"Molly?"

"I'm here," she replied. Charles heard a door banging in the background.

"What do you think? Could you make it?"

There was another pause before she answered, "I'm sorry, Charles, I'm still in the office. I don't think I can get away. I'm really sorry. I hope you and Sam have had a nice day. I'll call you later, maybe or tomorrow?"

Charles' heart was sinking into his boots and he found himself replying in automatic mode, "Yes, that'll be great. I'll speak to you later. Bye Molly."

He rang off. He felt completely deflated. His legs were suddenly leaden and he felt almost unable to move. He was only vaguely conscious of Sam pulling him by the hand in the direction of the American Diner he had spotted from the bright flashing Neon sign. Sam was calling, "Come on, Dad, " but Charles didn't react. He couldn't escape the single thought dominating his brain; Molly had lied to him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Shit!"

Molly put her phone away in her bag. She was sitting on the lid of a toilet in one of the cubicles in the ladies loo. The moment she had seen the name 'Charles' flash up on the screen she had made a rapid excuse to Matt about it being an urgent call that she needed to take and moved with haste in the direction of the toilets. She didn't want to speak to Charles in front of Matt and have him listening in to every word of their conversation. It was also very noisy in the restaurant with all the music and hustle and bustle and she had wanted to be able to hear him.

She hadn't been surprised that Charles had called her but she had been shocked when he said he was in London with Sam and had asked her to meet them both. She had panicked. If he had just been calling to catch up she might have told him that she'd gone out to eat after spending all day in the office but she wasn't prepared for his call. The last thing she had wanted to do was give him the impression that she had made up the whole story about working in order to avoid going to Bath to meet Sam. If she had said she was sitting in a restaurant when it was barely six o'clock in the evening Charles might not believe she had been working at all. He had been troubled enough last weekend about her response to his suggestion without giving him any further reason to doubt her. Just to compound matters, she and Matt had already ordered their food. She couldn't make an excuse and leave before it had arrived. She was certain that there was no way that she was going to hold the first meeting with her boyfriend's son in front of Matt. Her head had been spinning with uncertainty and indecisiveness and in the moment that she had needed to give Charles an answer she just hadn't known what to say to him. She had hesitated and then decided that a white lie might be the easiest solution.

It was a shame however, she reflected as soon as she had ended the call; Charles might have been right. A short meeting with Sam in casual surroundings might have been a good idea and broken the ice. On the other hand, it wasn't fair of Charles to just spring this upon her. He'd told her only a few days ago that there was no rush and it was as if he'd just forgotten his own words and ploughed ahead anyway without considering her. She sighed aloud. Damn it. She banged her temples with the heels of her hands in frustration. Why was nothing ever simple? Why did she always fuck things up? She sighed again. Well, it was done now. She couldn't really call Charles back and say she'd changed her mind or worse that she hadn't been telling him the truth just now. What would he think of her? It was probably best to just let everything lie.

The phone call seemed to cast a pall over the rest of the evening as far as Molly was concerned. It was a shame because until that moment everything was turning out much better than she had expected. To her barely disguised astonishment, away from the office and off-duty, Matt was proving to be surprisingly entertaining company. He had told Molly a lot of amusing stories and it seemed as if he wasn't afraid to make himself the butt of the joke sometimes. Thankfully, he'd stopped talking about work and the conversation had flowed in a a more general direction. He had asked Molly about herself, her family and, inevitably, Charles.

"It can't be easy being apart so much," Matt observed.

"We do our best," Molly had replied. "I can't deny that I wish we saw each other more but I wouldn't change anything else. Believe me, I met my share of losers before I met Charles."

Matt looked surprised, "Really? I'd have thought a girl like you wouldn't have to worry about losers."

Molly let the compliment rest there without comment.

"What about you?" she asked changing the subject. "Is there someone waiting for you in America?"

Matt pulled a face. "No one special. I date a bit, you know."

Molly didn't really know. Dating was not something she'd had the luxury of enjoying or experimenting with before or after the two 'tosspot' boyfriends she had known before Charles. She nodded, anyway. "So you're a free agent," she summed up.

He nodded, "Yeah, it's probably best that way, given this job."

Molly was curious. "How did you end up in America? Kevin said your Dad is an old friend of his."

Matt leaned back in his chair. "I grew up in Kent and went to school there but I went to University in the States. I won a sport scholarship for athletics and I majored in Business Studies. After graduation I stayed out there, in fact, I've been there ten years now and aside from jobs like this for old friends like Kevin, I have to say I prefer it there." He shrugged as if he was considering this for the very first time. "It suits me, I suppose. Everyone finds somewhere that's right for them at some point in their life, pretty much in the same way that there's supposed to be the right person out there for each and every one of us, if only you can find them."

Molly listened in surprise to Matt opening up a little about himself. Something occurred to her, "You said you won a sport scholarship does that mean you're an athlete as well?"

Matt's face fell slightly, "I was a pretty useful middle distance runner but I got an injury in my final year and that put paid to any serious hopes in that direction."

Molly remembered Matt's remark on Monday about Charles having to give up something he loved when he left the army and she realised now that he had been speaking from experience.

"So you settled for making your mark in business, instead," Molly concluded beginning to see how he had channelled his drive and determination to succeed into his working life. It was starting to explain a few things about him and his approach to life. He was clearly very ambitious.

Matt laughed, "That's the plan."

"And how's it going, so far?" Molly asked with a smile, wondering just how modest Matt would be about his achievements. Kevin had told her that Matt flew strictly first-class these days which was an indication of the level of his success. She was anticipating a fairly confident answer from him.

Matt smiled and shrugged, making a non-committal gesture with his hands turned palm upwards in front of him. "I reckon that's for you to judge. I suppose, it depends on whether you're satisfied with me or not."

He was referring to his work for CSF. Molly knew that too but for a moment they looked at each other in silence. To her annoyance she could feel a blush starting to spread across her cheeks. It was at that moment that Molly's phone had rung.

When she had returned to the table after taking Charles' call Matt must have sensed that her mood had altered.

"Anything wrong?"

Molly shook her head, "No. I'm just a bit tired all of a sudden and hungry."

He agreed with her and shortly afterwards their meals arrived. Molly was grateful for the chance to eat without having to talk. There was no doubt that Charles' call and, more specifically, her response to it, had put a dampener on her spirits. She couldn't get over the feeling that she had done something wrong. She decided she'd text Charles later and try to smooth things out, if only for her own peace of mind.

It was another hour before they finished eating and drinking. Molly's spirits had rallied a little and as they stepped back outside onto the pavement she found herself trying to dissuade Matt from the idea of them moving onto a Salsa club. Matt had drunk a few beers with his meal and had lightened up quite a lot. Molly was seeing a different and more fun side to him.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Are you afraid my moves won't cut the mustard?" Taking Molly by surprise he lunged forward grasped her by the hand and placing his other hand on her waist swung her around. In spite of herself she laughed calling, "Stop it. I'm not going Salsa dancing, thanks all the same."

He sighed and released her from his hold, "It's your loss. You don't know what you're missing."

She frowned, "Yeah, I think I do."

"So this is it, then?" he said with mock seriousness.

"Yeah, I'm heading for the tube, Matt."

He put his head on one side to look at her, "At the very least, share a taxi with me. I owe you that. It can drop you off first."

Molly thought about saying no but it seemed churlish to refuse the offer and she was tired. She relented.

"Ok."

Matt hailed a cab which stopped a short distance away along the pavement in front of an American Diner. Molly glanced at the restaurant, gesturing with her head towards it.

"From what you said before, that looks more like your kind of place."

"Next time, maybe?" he enquired.

"You think there'll be a next time, "Molly laughed, "You're not intending to make me work every weekend, are you?"

Matt smiled, "It hasn't been all bad, surely."

Molly didn't answer. He held the door open for her and giving a mock courtly bow he gestured towards the cab,

"Madam."

Molly giggled and shook her head thinking to herself, "What a pranet!" before climbing into the taxi. Matt followed her and the taxi pulled away from the kerbside moving out onto the carriageway to join the stream of traffic heading eastwards.

X-X-X-X

"What are you having, Dad?"

Sam was staring at Charles and holding out the menu to him showing the desserts page. Charles was lost in thought. From the moment Molly had lied about her location his thoughts had been spiralling, trying to find an explanation but descending further into negativity. The moment he had ended the call he had almost re-dialled thinking he would say that he had seen someone like her but must have been mistaken, offering her the opportunity to come clean but he had managed to stop himself in time. He couldn't tell her that he'd seen her. She would think he was stalking her or didn't trust her. The man she was with could be anyone. They were only sitting and talking after all, but why had she lied? It was that which hurt him most. Why not admit she was eating out somewhere? Was she trying to hide the fact that she was out or that she wasn't alone or was it just that she didn't want to meet Sam in spite of what she had said? For a brief moment he considered it from her point of view. It can't have looked very good, telling her he'd brought Sam to London and expecting her to drop everything and go out for dinner with them. In her eyes it might seem quite unreasonable. He had just made that excuse up on the spur of the moment to justify calling her. If he was honest with himself he supposed he had wanted to test her and now he was unhappy with the outcome. If he had just stayed in Bath as he had originally planned he wouldn't be sitting here now feeling perplexed and suspicious.

Sam was still looking at him holding out the menu. Charles forced himself to be cheerful and looking at his son said, "I don't think I can manage a pudding, Sam, but you go ahead. What would you like?"

Sam wanted ice cream which came as no surprise to Charles. He beckoned to the waitress to come over and asked for some chocolate ice cream. As she walked away from the table he saw a black cab pull over and stop outside the Diner and then Molly and the man approached it, still in conversation. Molly was laughing and saying something and the man replied. He held the door open for her and gave a stupid sort of bow which she seemed to find funny before she climbed into the back of the cab. His heart sank as he saw the man follow. He slammed the door shut behind them both and the taxi sped away.

X-X-X-X

Molly dialled Charles' number and heard it start to ring. It was half past nine and she was curled up on the sofa in her dressing gown. As promised, Matt had asked the taxi to drop her at her flat before continuing on to his hotel. He told her that he wouldn't need her tomorrow as they had managed to get through more than he had expected today. He would work on the data at his hotel. He arranged to meet her at Euston Station early on Monday morning so that they could travel up to North Wales together before he finally said goodnight and climbed back into the taxi. Before this evening the thought of spending four hours stuck with Matt on a train would have filled Molly with a sense of dread but now, after seeing a lighter side to him, she thought that she might be able to cope and in any case he was sure to be working, unwilling to waste any time. She watched the taxi drive off and then hurried inside, intent on taking a relaxing bath before calling Charles as she had promised.

The phone rang four or five times before an automated voice told her she had reached Charles' voice mail. She was surprised but reasoned he might be on the train with patchy reception and so when she heard the tone she left a message.

"Hi Charles, just calling to catch up with you like I said I would. I hope you and Sam had a good day. Sorry about not being free. I suppose you're probably in a bad area at the moment. Call me if you get this message."

She rang off and turning on the television settled down to watch a film while waiting for Charles to call her back.

By eleven o'clock she began to wonder if he had got the message. She called again and was connected immediately with his voice mail. She left a brief message, "Just me again. I expect you're busy. Call me if you can. I don't mind how late it is." He was probably back in Bath now and might be busy sorting Sam out for bed after a long day. Perhaps when he was sitting down with a moment to chill out he would check his messages and call her back. She went off to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea and sitting down again started flicking through the TV channels until she found an old drama which caught her attention. The last thing she remembered was checking her phone to see it was almost midnight.

She woke with a start. There had been an explosion on a film that seemed to be playing on the TV. She was slouched over on the sofa and reaching for her phone she saw it was three o'clock in the morning. She must have fallen asleep whilst waiting for Charles to call. She reached for the remote, switched off the TV and stumbled to the bedroom before collapsing into bed. Her last thought before drifting off to sleep again was concern that Charles hadn't called her back. She hoped nothing was wrong but decided she would try him again in the morning.

X-X-X-X

Charles stared into the bottom of the whisky tumbler and swirled the amber liquid around as if trying to uncover some pearls of wisdom to be found written at the bottom of the glass. He was sitting on the couch in his parents' lounge in Bath. It was almost midnight and he was having a moment's quiet reflection before going to bed. He had settled Sam about an hour ago. He had been tired out after a long day and had fallen asleep on the train on the way home leaning in against Charles, his head bent at the awkward angle that only a child could manage to find comfortable. Charles had been glad he was asleep as he wasn't in the mood to handle his non-stop chatter.

He couldn't deny that the sight of Molly leaving in the taxi with the unknown man had rattled him no matter how much he tried to reason it away and give her the benefit of the doubt. It was that sight and the fact that she had lied to him about her whereabouts that bothered him most. He wasn't entirely sure what to say to her. He wanted to find out the truth but was afraid of possibly hearing more lies. He couldn't get his thoughts straight and the first time his phone had rung when he was on the train he had switched it to voice mail rather than answer. He didn't want to have a stilted, patchy conversation in a public carriage overheard by other people. He listened to her message and thought he would wait until he got home. He switched off his phone for the remainder of the journey and had been busy dealing with Sam the second time she had called. He had only just heard the message but the whisky was starting to take effect. He felt tired and his head was fuzzy. He was afraid he might let his emotions get the better of him if he called her now and say something he'd regret. It was late. He decided he would call her in the morning. It wouldn't hurt to make her wait for once.

X-X-X-X

"Who the fuck is that?" Molly muttered to herself as she staggered along the hall in the dressing gown she had hastily pulled on over her pyjamas, having heard the flat buzzer sound. She stared at the entry screen.

"Oh my God." She knew now it had been a mistake to let the taxi drop her off first last night. Matt knew where she lived and he was standing there outside the main front door looking clean shaven and well-groomed which was visible even through the slightly hazy picture.

"Hi Molly, sorry to disturb you. It's not too early, is it?"

She glanced at the time on the display; it was apparently nine o'clock.

"No, " she said unable to hide the weariness in her voice but really wanting to yell, 'Of course, it's too fucking early. It's Sunday.' However, she settled for the more polite, "Sorry, but why are you here, Matt? You said you didn't need me today."

He looked apologetic or at least he was trying hard to give that impression. "I was doing some work last night and I realised that I needed a bit more input from you. I hope you don't mind but I thought perhaps if I brought over some breakfast," he held up a couple of shopping bags in what looked like a peace offering gesture, "perhaps you wouldn't mind giving me a few hours of your time."

Molly decided the man was impossible. For a few hours last night she had actually begun to like him. He'd been good company and she'd grudgingly decided he wasn't so bad after all but here he was turning up at an ungodly hour on what was likely to have been the only day of the week she had free to herself and she was standing here looking and feeling a wreck at this moment. Matt was rapidly forfeiting any brownie points he had earned last night. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to untangle her tousled, dark locks and wipe the sleep from her eyes. She really wanted to tell him to go away but she didn't know how to put it politely. Perhaps it would just be better to let him come up for an hour or two and get the work out of the way. If he wasn't gone before midday she would think of some excuse to get rid of him. She was determined he was not going to hijack her whole day.

"OK, come on up but I'm not dressed yet, so don't look at me."

Half a minute later Matt knocked on her door. She opened it up and hastily stood to one side to obscure his view of her trussed up in a voluminous dressing gown. He took the hint and with great politeness looked in the opposite direction as he entered the flat.

"The kitchen's through there." She gestured along the hall, "I'm just going to get dressed."

She disappeared out of sight as fast as she could and grabbing some clothes went into the bathroom to change. She splashed water on her face, brushed her hair, cleaned her teeth and got dressed before heading back to the bedroom. She went into the room and threw her nightclothes onto the bed. As she pulled up the blind, letting the weak sunlight into the room her phone rang. She saw that it was Charles. She picked up as fast as she could.

"Charles?"

"Hello."

She noted that his voice sounded a bit flat. " I called you last night. Did you get my messages?"

There was a pause before Charles replied, "Yes. Well, I was dealing with Sam, you know. I didn't want to call you really late."

"Yeah, I know," she replied although she had told him it was alright and she thought he would have realised that she meant it by now. "So, did Sam enjoy the museum yesterday?" she continued.

Charles launched into a description of what they had done at the museum and how much Sam had enjoyed it. He told her they had gone to eat later but he didn't tell her where and she hadn't asked. He was pleased to hear the obvious interest in her voice when he described their activities. It cheered him up after his worries yesterday. Last night he had let the whisky do its work and lull him into sleep. He hadn't needed to think any more about the events of that day and when he had woken this morning he had felt more positive. There could be a number of explanations why Molly had been at the restaurant and it was unfair to be suspicious. She sounded her usual self today and once again he was glad that they would be meeting tomorrow. The call was drawing to a close when he heard a sound in the background. There was a muffled noise as if Molly had her hand over the mouthpiece then she came back to him saying,

"I'll see you tomorrow then. I'm so glad you called, Charles. Have a good day with Sam."

"I'm really looking forward to next week. Bye, Molly."

Charles heard the sound again a split second before Molly ended the call and this time it was clear.

He stood rooted to the spot. There was no doubt in his mind this time that he had heard a man's voice and he was sure he had just called out,

"Molly, your breakfast is ready."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Kate Allen yawned and put the cup of coffee she had been drinking down onto the table, slopping hot liquid onto its highly polished surface. It was half past eleven on Sunday morning and she was still wearing her dressing gown, enjoying a late breakfast and having a leisurely start to her day. She hadn't been expecting a call from Molly or her opening question.

"How would you like to do me an enormous favour?"

Kate frowned considering what this might involve, "Am I supposed to say 'yes' without asking what you want me to do?"

"It's nothing bad," Molly responded with haste, "just turn up here in about an hour and say we've arranged to go out for lunch."

Kate was conscious that Molly seemed to be whispering. "Speak up, I can't hear you," she complained.

"I don't want Matt to hear," Molly hissed.

"Matt!" Kate exclaimed. "What's he doing there?"

Molly explained about him turning up uninvited. "Please," she pleaded with her friend, "I don't want to spend all day with him again. It's doing my nut in."

She heard Kate sigh, "Can't you just make up some other excuse or tell him to piss off?"

Molly thought that Kate sounded reluctant and was surprised that she needed to persuade her. She usually needed very little excuse to participate in any social activity and was the first to join in.

"It's not that simple, is it?" Molly moaned, "I'm supposed to be helping him as much as I can. Kevin asked me."

"Well I don't think that gives him the right to turn up whenever he likes. He's taking advantage," Kate said sounding a little exasperated.

"Yeah," Molly agreed, "But I've got to work with him all next week. I don't think Kevin will be too impressed if he hears I've been unhelpful. I'm sorry I just couldn't think of anything else." She paused. "What if I actually _did_ take you out for lunch?"

"Oh, so it wasn't a real offer then? You just wanted me to drop everything and come round to help you out, "Kate scoffed.

"I didn't mean it like _that_." Molly's was starting to sound desperate.

Kate took pity on her and interrupted, "OK, I'll come. But you owe me a good lunch. I'll need something to compensate for Phil sulking when I go out and leave him in a minute."

She could hear the gratitude in Molly's voice, "You're a really good friend. Have I ever told you that?"

"Mmmh," Kate replied, "That would be the type of friend usually referred to as a sucker, I imagine."

Molly went back into the lounge where Matt was sitting at the table tapping away at the keyboard on his laptop. After preparing a very nice breakfast spread for them which she had to admit she'd enjoyed, he'd settled down to work and looked as if he were likely to be here for the rest of the day. The breakfast had been a thoughtful touch and a clever one on his part. It was difficult to tell him to take a hike after going to so much trouble and he had probably calculated as much before he decided to call round. Molly had done her best to be helpful and co-operative for the first couple of hours but once it became clear that this was more than the brief visit he had suggested she became more distant. He had looked up once and said with a frown, "Is this a problem for you, Molly? You seem a bit distracted."

Molly had shaken her head, "No, its fine," but had been wondering none the less how she could politely extricate herself from this situation. Then it had occurred to her that if a pre-arranged date were to turn up which he thought she hadn't wanted to mention he might feel awkward enough to leave and she had sloped away to make the surreptitious call to Kate begging for her help. She was surprised that Kate hadn't been keener particularly knowing that Matt was there.

By one o'clock Molly was beginning to wonder if Kate had changed her mind when the flat buzzer sounded. She was relieved to see her friend standing outside and let her into the building. When she opened the flat door, Kate breezed in, the same as ever, and stopped short, pretending to be surprised at the sight of Matt sitting in Molly's lounge.

"Oh. Hi, Matt." She turned to Molly. "Molly, you should have said that you were working. I would have understood." She shot Molly a look which said, _is this good enough for you?_

"I'm sorry, Kate, I thought we'd be finished in time." Molly said with affected innocence, "I didn't want to cancel. I know your social diary is always very busy." It was Kate's turn to give her a look that said, _don't overplay your hand._

Matt had stood up, all good manners, and interjected, "I'm so sorry, I've stayed far longer than I envisaged and I can see that you've made plans. Please don't let me interrupt anything." He started to pack up his laptop and papers whilst Molly said with the appropriate degree of concern, "If you're sure, Matt, that it's OK."

He waved his hand, "Fine, I'm practically done and there's plenty of time for this next week. Thank you for your help."

Within a few minutes he was standing next to them having put on his jacket and with his possessions in his hand ready to leave.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Kate." He smiled and nodded in Kate's direction before turning to Molly. "I'll meet you at seven o'clock tomorrow as arranged." He made his way along the hall to the front door and Molly followed him. He turned, his hand poised over the latch ready to open the door as he was about to leave and called out loud enough for Kate to hear, "Have a nice lunch." Lowering his voice, however, and looking at Molly he said, "You know you could have just asked me nicely to leave. I can take a hint sometimes in spite of what you might think." He opened the door and walked away. Molly watched him disappear along the hallway and felt her face burning with embarrassment. Damn him. He was so sharp he'd cut himself, as her Nan might have said. She shut the door behind him and shaking her head at her own stupidity returned to Kate.

"Mission Matt completed, then." Kate said, "Where are we going for my reward?"

"You can choose," Molly replied, "I'm just going to get changed."

"In that case, I'd better put on some more make-up. I'll want to look my best for where we're going." Kate said heading for the bathroom.

Molly went to the bedroom and took off the clothes she had hastily put on when Matt had turned up, choosing something nicer to wear for a lunch out with her friend. When she came out of the bedroom, Kate was nowhere to be seen although her jacket was still on the sofa. A few minutes passed before Kate eventually emerged from the bathroom carrying her handbag.

"Alright?" Molly enquired.

"Yes," Kate said, "Can't you see the difference?" She turned her head from side to side. Molly couldn't but she nodded anyway.

"Right, shall we go?" Kate said, "I thought you could take me up West for some lunch."

Molly shook her head, "Your favours are expensive Mrs Allen."

"Yes," Kate agreed, "but you know I'm worth it."

X-X-X-X

Charles had muddled through Sunday, simply going through the motions and doing everything he needed to keep Sam entertained until it was time to take him home again; he was glad of the distraction. After Molly had rung off this morning he had stayed in the same spot in the kitchen for what must have been at least ten minutes staring out into the garden. He wanted to believe he had misheard, but he knew it had been a man's voice and he had definitely called her by name. He couldn't pass this off as the radio or television playing in the background; someone had distinctly called out to Molly and mentioned breakfast. It wasn't paranoia on his part after the events of yesterday evening. There was nothing wrong with his hearing.

He had tried very hard to give Molly the benefit of the doubt yesterday and had, more or less, won that battle with himself. He shouldn't have expected her to just drop everything and meet him. He'd been unfair, particularly knowing that she wasn't in a position to rush out at the very moment she received his call. He supposed the outcome of his ploy had served him right. But what on earth did he do now? If he called Molly back and started to go through everything: his sighting of her at the restaurant, the lie she had told to him, seeing her leaving with an unknown man and now informing her that he knew there was a man with her this morning, he was going to sound like someone jealous and insecure who didn't trust his girlfriend an inch. He willed himself to take a step back and keep a cool head. He knew that everything might well be innocent but Molly hadn't been honest with him. It was the lack of honesty that worried him. Didn't she think she could tell him she was out with another man? At the back of his mind was also the nagging feeling that he knew he hadn't been entirely honest with her either, in fact, what he had done was almost underhand and that wasn't in his nature. One thing he was sure of, however, was that none of this was going to be sorted out by another telephone call. He decided that he wasn't going to say anything more about this until both he and Molly were back at Nant Glyn House tomorrow. As soon as the appropriate moment arose he would talk to her and they could sort this out face to face.

X-X-X-X

Molly and Kate lunched at a restaurant that Kate had discovered a little while ago on the recommendation of a client. It was quieter and less flashy than Molly had imagined. Kate had used the term 'exclusive' which Molly assumed justified the steep prices. The food came promptly but it was only when Molly realised that she had finished first in spite of doing the lion's share of the talking that she noticed Kate had only been listening to her with half her attention on the conversation.

"Is something wrong, Kate?" Molly asked.

"Why would it be?" Kate replied. It was an unusual answer and not delivered in Kate's normal bright and cheerful tone of voice.

"You don't really seem yourself today," Molly said honestly.

Kate put down her knife and fork and looked at her friend.

"No, I've got something on my mind, as a matter of fact." Molly waited for her to elaborate. Kate took a deep breath, "I'm thinking about having a change of career, if you must know."

Molly was taken aback, "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Kate confirmed.

"Aren't you happy at CSF, then?" Molly asked.

"Yes, I like it, but we've all got to move on and try new things, sometime, haven't we? You can't just stay where you are because you're too afraid to try something different. Sometimes you've got to take a leap of faith, I suppose. Look at you, now."

Molly was taken aback and a little shocked, "I'm really surprised, Kate, I thought you were in your element at the branch. You're great at your job."

"I know," Kate said polishing an imaginary badge pinned to her chest, "but it doesn't mean I couldn't be great at something else."

"What are you going to do?" Molly asked.

Kate waved her hand, "Oh, nothing yet. I'm just thinking out loud here. Don't say anything, it might all come to nothing in the end."

Molly let the subject drop but was genuinely amazed. She'd never thought that Kate would be looking to change jobs or leave CSF. She'd been with the company for eight years and would probably be promoted to full branch manager very soon. The thought of her friend moving on was a sobering one.

When they had finished their meal Molly and Kate went for a stroll. It was a dry, if somewhat overcast, day and their route took them through streets still busy with shoppers on a Sunday afternoon. Predictably, Kate perked up and, in spite of her pensive mood, couldn't resist buying a new handbag. Even Molly was tempted by a pair of shoes but managed to resist after reasoning that she had half a dozen similar pairs cluttering the bottom of her wardrobe.

Later, realising they were near Regent Street a thought occurred to Molly, "Do you think we could swing by the Nespresso shop?" she asked Kate, "Only Charles has got a machine and he mentioned he was low on coffee. He likes a particular type. I could take him some tomorrow." Kate had no objection and so they called into the shop just before it closed, to pick up some Rosabaya coffee capsules.

X-X-X-X

Molly arrived promptly at Euston Station just before seven o'clock on Monday morning in time to catch the train north to Chester and then onwards to Betws-y-Coed. She had packed a range of casual clothes in her case knowing the type of activities that would be taking place that week and the terrain in the area. Although she wouldn't be a participant this time, she thought she might be able to persuade Charles to let her do some climbing on the ropes course which she had really enjoyed in June. She was, however, absolutely determined not to go anywhere near the lake again apart from, in her idle imaginings, having a romantic stroll by the water's edge at sunset with Charles. She knew the reality was that it would probably be freezing cold and infested with midges but the thought was nice. In fact, the thought of five whole days in the same place as Charles was very nice indeed. It would be the longest period of time they had actually spent together since that first week in June.

As Molly crossed the station concourse pulling her case behind her she caught sight of Matt standing near the Departures Board waiting for her as they had arranged. She had predicted he would be there before her, it seemed almost inevitable that he would be one step ahead. She could see that he was dressed entirely appropriately for the outdoors from his boots and Craghoppers to his top quality Goretex jacket. Everything was packed in a rucksack he was wearing on his back although the laptop case was inevitably glued to his right hand.

Trying to forget Matt's last comment to her yesterday as he had left her flat, Molly gave him a bright smile and tried a joke as an opener, "Morning, are you planning to walk to North Wales?"

"Well, if he's not," another voice piped up, "I bet I could. I did my Duke of Edinburgh's Award."

Molly had failed to notice Sasha was standing behind Matt, slightly obscured by his rucksack. She stepped to one side and Molly could see that she was similarly attired and equipped for the outdoors. They made quite a pair.

"Oh, Sasha, I didn't know you were travelling with us?" Molly said with genuine surprise.

"No, it's a coincidence that I was going for the same train," Sasha said. From the look on her face, Molly suspected that it wasn't quite the coincidence she claimed and she had made enquiries with someone at Head Office and arranged to be here on purpose.

"A nice coincidence, though, Sasha, " Matt said and Molly, remembering his text message after the pub quiz, thought he was doing a very good job of looking pleased about it and applying the charm again. Clearly, nothing Matt had said or done on Wednesday evening after leaving with Sasha had changed her view or put her off and as he was behaving like the perfect gentleman. When it transpired that Sasha only had a Standard Class ticket, Matt very gallantly insisted on paying the upgrade fee to allow her to travel in the First Class carriage with him and Molly. When Molly whispered to Matt as Sasha was stowing her luggage, "You didn't need to do that, no one else will be getting First Class tickets." Matt had replied, "Perhaps not, but it would have been rude to leave her on her own."

As the train sped towards Chester, Matt engrossed himself in work and left Molly to make small talk with Sasha. Chatting wouldn't have been a problem if Sasha hadn't been so keen to try to impress Matt all the time aware that although he wasn't focused on her he must be listening. She talked a lot about the Business Studies course she had done at college before joining CSF and her Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition in the Lake District. Molly who hadn't gone to college, had no qualifications and beyond the one week course in June had never been to a National Park before or seen a mountain, was thoroughly bored and finding it hard to feign interest. She began to think that Matt was too clever by half having managed to remove himself from the conversation altogether.

When they disembarked at Chester Molly had enough time to buy a magazine and used it as a means of avoiding any further conversation on the journey. Matt didn't bother to open up his laptop again and Molly was able to listen to his conversation with Sasha without having to take part. She heard Matt telling Sasha how he had also been involved in outdoor pursuits as a teenager and they spent more than ten minutes reminiscing about the views from the top of Scafell Pike on a clear day and the difficulties of scrambling in damp conditions as well as the varying merits of different boots and waterproofs. She heard Sasha almost cooing over Matt's jacket and witnessed her rubbing her fingers across the material with sighs of appreciation as if it was the finest quality silk. Molly had to fight hard not to roll her eyes in disgust.

When, after a further change at Llandudno Junction, the train finally pulled into Betws-y-Coed station, Molly began to feel butterflies in her stomach. It was strange to be back here again and she was excited at the thought of seeing Charles very soon. As they sat in the taxi driving them to Nant Glyn House, Molly found herself anticipating and longing for that wonderful feeling of warmth and comfort that she always experienced whenever those familiar arms of Charles encircled her and pulled her close to him. She wanted to reach up and touch his face, run her fingers through those soft curls at the base of his hairline the ones she could feel when she reached up to clasp her hands at the back of his neck and she wanted to kiss him. More than anything she wanted to kiss him and lie close to him and the thought of being able to stay with him all night brought a smile to her lips. She turned her head to look out of the window in case Sasha or Matt noticed and asked her what was so funny.

The taxi turned in through the gates of Nant Glyn House, past the Lodge House and down the drive towards the big house. Molly saw the water on the lake glistening in the sunlight, the woods stretching away over the hillside beyond and the peaks of Snowdonia in the distance. It was a familiar and happy sight to her and she was excited to be here again.

Matt and Sasha were taking a good look at the house and grounds as the taxi approached the entrance and Molly heard some appreciative comments uttered which for some irrational reason pleased her. It mattered to her that they liked this place because it was part of Charles' world and she wanted them to like him too. The taxi circled and stopped at the front door with a spray of gravel. They got out, retrieved their bags from the boot and Matt paid the driver.

As they entered the hall, Molly remembered the last time she had been here on the Friday that her course had ended when Kevin had taken her home after the emotional scene with Charles in the car park. She smiled to herself thinking how very different it was today. On that occasion she had wanted to get as far away as possible from the place but this time it was the only place she wanted to be.

X-X-X-X

Charles had experienced a strange sense of déjà vu when he met with Bing and Ade for the customary early morning meeting, particularly knowing that this week's course was for CSF employees and once again Molly would be here. Last time he had been shocked to see the name Kate Allen on the list of participants believing that was Molly's real name and dreading seeing her again after the embarrassment of their first encounter at a London hotel three months before. This time he found himself dreading seeing her again for entirely different reasons. He was dreading the possibility that he would gaze into her beautiful eyes and see something different about the way she looked at him, hear something different in the tone of her voice when she spoke to him or that she might behave differently towards him and all because, unbeknown to her, he had seen her with another man and overheard one sentence being uttered that was not meant for his ears. He didn't know if any of this was significant but he feared that it could render meaningless everything that he thought had existed between them.

He had been bothered by such thoughts during the last twenty-four hours, negative thoughts that encroached on the rest of his Sunday with Sam, on the long drive back to Nant Glyn House and during the night when he had slept fitfully, troubled by concerns over the best way of handling this situation. He knew, however, that he must try to resolve his fears by meeting them head on and talking to Molly.

He kept himself busy in the morning preparing materials for the course and catching up on some paperwork but he knew he wasn't giving it his full attention. As the time marched on towards midday, CSF employees began to arrive and Bing had swung into the familiar role of jovial host, out in the hall meeting, greeting and organising the arrivals.

Charles, returning from the lakeside, entered the house from the terrace and opened the door of the lounge into the hall to see Molly standing there with two other people; a man and a woman. They all had their backs to him. He took a deep breath and walked towards them. Molly turned first and seeing him broke into a broad smile which was genuine and heart-felt. Charles saw her eyes light up when she looked at him and some of his doubts began to melt away. All he wanted was to scoop her up in his arms there and then, never mind the presence of others, and he moved towards her. He was only an arms' length away when the man next to Molly turned towards him as well. He was almost as tall as Charles, slim, blonde-haired and good-looking and it was with a start that Charles recognised him as Molly's dinner companion.

Molly turned to the man and with a look of pride gestured towards Charles saying, "Matt, can I introduce you to Charles James."

The man smiled and held out his hand to Charles, "Hi, I'm Matt Parker. Molly has told me a lot about you, Charles."

Charles automatically reached out to grasp Matt's hand. He had a distinctive voice with an unusual accent. As they shook hands Charles looked Matt in the eye seeing curiosity written in his expression. He knew he had heard the voice before, particularly the way he had said 'Molly' with its mid-Atlantic twang. He knew now that the man who had been in Molly's flat early yesterday morning was standing in front of him.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Thank you to everyone for your continued support in reading and reviewing this story. I very much appreciate your comments and hope that the story continues to engage your interest. Thank you._**

**Chapter Seven**

Charles reached out to grasp Matt's hand and, with astonishment, Molly saw a fleeting look of hostility in his eyes as he regarded Matt. The moment had passed within seconds but she remembered that look all too well from her encounters with Charles during the first week she had spent at Nant Glyn House. She doubted that either Matt or Sasha would have noticed as the expression had vanished in an instant and Charles had assumed his usual mask of professionalism.

"I hope Molly hasn't told you anything too bad about me?" he said to Matt in a level tone of voice that betrayed the look that Molly had witnessed.

Matt, displaying an 'A-Lister' smile replied, "I can assure you it was all good. It's nice to be able to get to know the man behind the legend."

Charles blinked and stared, wondering if this was an example of Matt's humour or there was a hint of sarcasm being directed at him. He forced a laugh, "I'm sure Molly didn't say that. Even my own mother wouldn't say that."

Matt shook his head, "No. From what I've heard I think you'd be a hard act for anyone to follow." The two men looked at each other both trying to get the measure of the other before Matt released Charles' hand.

At that moment Charles noticed Sasha standing nearby listening to the conversation with interest. He glanced at Molly, who taking the hint said,

"This is Sasha from the branch. Have you met before?"

Charles shook his head but remembered the times he had called the branch trying to speak to Molly and had ended up speaking to Sasha. On those occasions heh had never left his name; she wouldn't know him. He held out his hand to her.

"I'm a consultant in the Sales division now," Sasha said with a bright smile whilst shaking Charles' hand. She hadn't been too enamoured by Molly's off-hand description of her and was keen to impress on him that she had moved up in the world.

"Yes, Molly told me you'd been promoted. Congratulations. It's good to meet you at last." Charles' good manners flattered Sasha's ego and she looked pleased with the exchange.

They were interrupted by Bing marching across the hall to join them and holding out three room keys.

"Matt and Molly, you have your own rooms," he handed them the keys, "and Sasha you'll be sharing with Karen Walters when she arrives." Sasha looked disappointed but said nothing. Molly however, was secretly delighted at this piece of news. She didn't want anyone monitoring her comings and goings at night and she certainly wasn't planning on staying in her own room if she could help it. She looked up trying to catch Charles' eye but he seemed to be studying something in the distance. When he did briefly see her looking at him he gave her quick smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Matt and Sasha started to make their way upstairs with Matt gallantly helping Sasha manage a very large and unwieldy holdall. He'd helped her carry it everywhere so far today, on and off trains, up and down stairs and into the hall when they had arrived, and Molly wondered if Sasha had brought it deliberately, knowing she'd need help. For someone who claimed to be an experienced walker, she certainly didn't travel light.

Molly hung behind waiting for Matt and Sasha to move away upstairs out of sight before turning to Charles and saying almost shyly, "Aren't you going to kiss me?"

She saw him glance around him to establish there was no one nearby before leaning towards her and planting a rather perfunctory kiss on her lips then stepping away again. Molly was surprised and disappointed. At the very least she had expected a hug of welcome.

"Are you pleased to see me?" she asked in a low voice.

"Of course," Charles replied but to Molly's ears he didn't sound very enthusiastic. He sounded as if he was talking to a relative he hadn't seen for a while not his girlfriend.

"I expect you'll want to unpack and get ready for lunch," he said starting to move away from her.

Molly couldn't hide her feelings as she gave a short reply, "Yes, I suppose so." She picked up her case to go upstairs but paused, "Is something wrong, Charles?"

He shook his head, his forehead creased in a frown, "Should there be?"

He was behaving strangely. Molly knew it. He might pretend that everything was alright but she wasn't fooled. "I'll see you later then." she said with a brusqueness that was entirely deliberate but he seemed not to notice.

"Yep. Later, then."

Before Molly could say anything more Charles had turned and headed in the direction of the office leaving her standing at the bottom of the stairs with a large case in her hand. She started to manhandle it up the first flight and was half way up when she felt the weight lifted from her and a familiar voice said, "Let me help you with that."

She turned to see Ade a couple of steps below her. He took the case from her and started to carry it up to the landing whilst she followed behind. When they reached the top of the stairs he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "How are you Molly? It's good to see you. Caught up with Charles yet?"

She smiled at Ade. It was impossible not to like him. He was irrepressibly good humoured and sociable and liked nothing better than a bit of banter.

"Yeah, I've seen him." Molly replied, "Is he alright today? He seemed a bit funny earlier."

"Funny?" Ade pulled a face and considered this. "If you mean comic, then definitely not. His jokes are shit. If you mean strange, can't say I've noticed but then I only got back this morning. Giselle doesn't like me leaving on Sunday evening." He leaned towards her and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "He's a damn lucky bastard to have you here this week, you know. It's our busy time, right now. You'll probably be able to get him alone later. I daresay he won't be too busy for you then." He gave her a cheeky wink and made his excuses, disappearing down the stairs. Molly watched him go noting how he cut a tall, handsome dash in his combats, boots and scarlet red Nant Glyn fleece. She decided that he was probably right. She was expecting too much, wanting Charles to give her a warm, personal, welcome when it was the busiest time in the middle of his working day. She should support him by putting her feelings to one side and letting him get on with his work the same way he supported her. However much she wanted him, this wasn't the right moment for an emotional reunion.

X-X-X-X

If Charles had ever doubted Molly's depiction of Matt Parker he did so no longer. An afternoon's observation was enough to convince him that he was dealing with a singular individual. He was self-assured with a degree of confidence and poise that Charles had never encountered before in a course delegate, knowledgeable about each of the tasks they had undertaken to the point that Charles was convinced he could have sat back and allowed Matt to run the session without him and he clearly had drive, motivation and determination in spades. Despite the fact that this must be a relatively simple activity for someone of his abilities, he was giving everything one hundred per cent and encouraging everyone else to do the same.

Some of Molly's comments about Matt began to resonate with Charles. He could easily see how Matt's attitude could be construed as irritating by those who approached life at a slightly more relaxed pace. Charles had met a few men with similar attitudes during his military career. In most cases it had been over-optimism and over-estimation of their abilities that had driven them with varying degrees of success. He had the strong feeling however, that Matt was the 'real deal'; one of those people who understood their abilities perfectly and ensured that they applied their skills to their maximum benefit at every opportunity.

Molly had said Matt was very successful and Charles could see why. It seemed as if the other members of Blue team had recognised this too. It transpired that Matt had already met many of them last week on visits to branches and it seemed that he had charmed them all. The four women in his group were like moths around a flame, especially Sasha who was keen to exploit every opportunity of talking to him or obtaining his opinion and made sure that she was positioned next to him whenever they were in the meeting room or out in the paddock, whilst the three other men appeared respectful and almost in awe of him. However, the charm wasn't working with Charles. He was polite and professional around Matt, nothing would persuade him to behave otherwise, but it was Matt's self-assurance above all that provoked Charles and before the afternoon session was over he had experienced the disquieting urge to punch him or at the very least take him down a peg or two, particularly when Matt had hung back after the Minefield challenge and said,

"That was a decent 'breaking the ice' kind of activity, Charles, but I reckon you could improve it with a few small changes. I'd be glad to let you know my thoughts on that, if you're free later." To Charles' mind it had been delivered in a tone of voice that implied Matt was certain Charles would want to know and he would be doing him a favour.

As the group walked back into the house at the end of the afternoon, Charles stayed behind, tidying up the materials ready for Ade's group to use tomorrow. He watched Matt laughing with the others and remembered what he had seen through the window of the restaurant on Saturday. The thought of Matt entertaining Molly and the possibility that she had enjoyed his company, in spite of her previous claims that she disliked him, irritated Charles beyond measure.

He took a deep breath and tried to be rational. Was he just envious of Matt's skills and abilities? He shook his head. If that was the case he'd be motivated to make improvements himself and probably seek Matt's professional advice as it was clearly being offered for free and might well be worth hearing. He'd never been afraid to take advice from others and listening was an important skill for an army officer. No, he realised that his feelings were nothing more than straightforward jealousy that Matt had been hijacking so much of Molly's time and attention last week and the possibility that he'd been commanding more of her attention than Charles found acceptable. Worse than that, a small voice of fear whispered that the entertainment had gone beyond dinner.

Charles wandered back towards the house. Apart from seeing Molly on arrival and at the group welcome meeting he'd only seen her once in the past few hours walking down towards the woods where the ropes courses were set up and Bing's group had gone to try their hands on the low ropes course this afternoon. He wasn't sure exactly what Molly was doing here this week. As much as he'd wanted to see her, he wondered just how much work she would actually need to do for Matt if he was engaged in activities all week. He regretted his response to her when she had arrived. He was aware that she was pleased to see him but the appearance of Matt had driven those thoughts from his head. When they'd been standing in the hall shortly after their arrival he'd hardly been thinking about Molly at all. He realised now that he wasn't helping himself at all. He needed to catch up with Molly properly and clear the air. He decided that he would try to find her after dinner and make time to resolve this once and for all.

X-X-X-X

Molly tied the red ribbon around the Rosabya coffee capsules. It was a small decorative touch and probably unnecessary but she knew that sometimes a tiny gesture could mean so much more than something grand and overwhelming. It was the writing of the card with which she had struggled. She had wanted to get the words right but it had taken her several drafts until she was happy. She tucked the card under the ribbon and placed it in a small bag. She had been thinking about Jackie's words last week. It was true that being away from Charles so much made her feelings for him more intense and their time together so precious. Phone calls could never replace being with him and she had been longing to see him and be alone with him again and she had made the decision that she wasn't going to wait any longer.

Dinner had finished and all the course participants were now in the lounge taking on Ade's Krypton Factor Challenge. Molly had excused herself feigning a headache and had waited upstairs for half an hour to be sure that everyone was busy before risking going out. She had checked that Bing was in the office by making an excuse to ask him some details about the course and knew that Charles must be back in his own quarters. She had spoken to him briefly after dinner and he had said he would try to catch her in the bar after the activity ended. It had sounded like a casual arrangement he might make with anyone but she realised that it had been said within the hearing of others and she suspected that after showing their faces for a respectable period of time they would be able to slope away from everyone. She grinned to herself. He wouldn't be expecting to see her now and she wanted to surprise him.

She had almost reached the bottom of the staircase when she heard the lounge door opening. She froze wondering who it might be and her heart sank when she saw Matt emerge into the hall. It was as if he had a sixth sense. Why did it have to be him of all people?

He glanced up at Molly on the stairs in surprise, "Oh. Hi Molly, are you feeling better now?"

She nodded and replied automatically, "Yes," then remembering her intentions hesitated. "I mean, I'm a bit better but I was just going to the office to ask Bing if he has any paracetamol. I've run out."

She paused wondering what Matt's response would be and was surprised when he looked at her with a degree of real concern and said, "Would you like me to go and ask for you?"

It was the last thing she wanted. "No, it's ok you carry on. I expect I'll feel better in an hour or two."

He glanced down at her right hand, "What's in the bag?"

She shrugged, "Nothing, just, erm...," she paused searching her brain for something to say until thinking, damn him; it was none of his business. "It's personal."

She saw a hint of suspicion in Matt's expression and the display of concern disappeared. The usual Matt resurfaced, "Well, if you _are_ feeling better in a while, come and find me in the bar after the activity's finished. There are some things I'd like you to do for tomorrow if you can."

Molly nodded, wincing and pretending that it hurt her head to move, She saw Matt head off towards the Gents toilets and waited until the door had shut before crossing the hall and letting herself out of the building.

The stable yard was quiet. A couple of lights shone through cracks in the curtains hanging at the windows but there was little to be heard apart from the rustle of the wind through the trees. Molly walked across the flagstones to the door at the far corner and tapped lightly. She heard a couple of footsteps and then the door swung open casting light into the yard. Seeing her standing there Charles leaned against the edge of the door and said with undisguised surprise, "What can I do for you?"

Molly grinned at him, "You can start by letting me in. It's draughty out here."

Charles stepped to one side and nodded in the direction of the room. Molly entered and looked around her. It was the first time she had seen where Charles lived during the week and she remembered Kate's words about seeing the inside of Charles bachelor pad and had to bite her lip to stop herself giggling. She walked around taking the place in and Charles still standing near the door watched her. In Molly's opinion he appeared to be living in reasonable comfort. The room contained a small sitting area with a sofa and armchair, a dining table large enough to seat four people and a king-sized bed. Molly raised her eyebrows, stared at the bed and gazed back at Charles with a question in her expression. He caught her drift and putting up his hands, said as if trying to excuse himself, "It was already here when I first arrived, nothing to do with me."

Molly didn't comment but found it hard to suppress a smile. Seeing an archway she stepped through to find a small kitchen area in which she noted the Nespresso machine sitting on the worktop. There was also a shower room and toilet. Everything was clean, neat, and tidy and in its place just as she had anticipated it would be. There was little chance of Charles breaking his deeply ingrained military habits any time soon. The apartment hadn't the cosiness of Molly's flat, lacking a woman's touch and there were few personal possessions apart from some framed photographs of Sam on display, but it was nevertheless warm and comfortable. She returned to the main room and placed the small bag on the table before turning back to Charles. He hadn't moved from the door.

"Are you waiting for me to leave or something?" she asked.

"Why?"

Molly sidled towards him, reached out to grasp him by both hands and pulled him towards her, "Because you look like a doorman standing over there. Come here."

Charles took a few uneven steps towards her wanting more than anything to find a way to open the conversation that he knew they must have but it was difficult to keep his mind on his purpose. Molly was standing there looking so utterly gorgeous, clearly wanting him to make a move and he wanted nothing more than to gather her up, carry her over to the bed and make love to her. His desire for her was strong but he struggled against it wanting to maintain his resolve and carry through what he had planned. He stayed where he was.

Molly however, had other ideas and reaching up to him she held his face between her hands and gently pulled him down towards her. He didn't resist. Standing on her tiptoes she reached her face up towards his and kissed him waiting for his arms to reach around her and pull her close to him but instead she felt him place his hands lightly on her hips as if trying to hold her away from him and sensed that he was trying to pull away. She snapped her head back to look at him, instinctively realising he wasn't behaving normally. "What's wrong?"

Charles had almost groaned aloud when he felt her lips upon his and had fought every urge to simply kiss her back and let everything take its natural course just as his body was telling him to do. He held her just a fraction away from him. If he felt her body pressed against him he would be lost to reason and he needed to speak to her. She was looking straight at him, her eyes questioning him.

"Can we talk?" he said, aware how clumsy and awkward he sounded.

She frowned and sighed as if exasperated, "I've had enough bloody talking from Matt all week. I wasn't expecting it from you, as well. Not yet, anyway."

She lowered her hands from his face. He released her and took a step back.

"So, Matt's been talking a lot to you this week has he?"

"What do you mean _talking_?" she said, placing a strong emphasis on the word before adding, "If you mean being over-enthusiastic, working stupid hours, in fact, not really paying attention to office hours at all, you'd be right." She shook her head, "Do you know he even turned up at my flat yesterday morning. He was there when you called me." She suddenly started giggling as if something was amusing her, "I had to phone Kate and get her to come over at lunchtime so that he would leave because he wouldn't stop working on that bloody laptop of his and asking me questions. I thought he'd be there all day. Mind you, he did bring over this really nice breakfast, you know, fresh croissants and jam and stuff. I couldn't really tell him to get lost after that." She rolled her eyes at the memory.

Charles felt relief washing over him. Without him even having to ask he'd heard the words from Molly's own lips. He felt a moment of shame at having ever entertained any thoughts that there hadn't been an innocent explanation to what he had heard yesterday. He shouldn't have doubted her. He covered his own embarrassment by saying,

"So, Matt's a bit of workaholic then."

Molly nodded, "Yeah. Well, I suppose he'd say he's just conscientious and motivated but I reckon he could do a bit less and still be just as good at his job. I ran into him as I was going out and he wants me to do something for him later but I told him I'd got a headache and slipped out when he wasn't looking." She paused and looked at Charles wrinkling her brow, "So what did you want to talk about?"

Charles took a step towards her, a small smile hovering around the corners of his mouth, "Well, seeing as Matt seems to have worn you out with all this talking, perhaps I should just give it a miss. It can wait."

He was closer to her now and he could see she had recognised the change in his mood. She was waiting for him, her eyes bright and sparkling, anticipating the moment he would touch her.

"You know, doctors reckon there's a very good natural cure for a headache," Charles said as the final space between them disappeared.

"I haven't got a headache," Molly whispered looking up at him.

Charles smirked, "Pity, I believe in using natural remedies."

Molly giggled and then paused as if she was giving this serious thought, "I'm not sure but I think I can feel a twinge starting just over my right eye."

Her eyes locked with his moments before his arms encircled her waist and pulling her to him he lowered his head, his lips seeking hers. The kiss was deep and intense, a release from all the tension and fears that he had entertained in the last forty eight hours and any final doubts were utterly dispelled as he felt Molly respond to him, pressing her body against him as her hands tugged at his shirt, releasing it from the waistband of his trousers allowing her hands to roam freely across his smooth bare skin. He felt the pressure of her fingers kneading into the muscles of his back and shuddered. Without hesitation, he lowered an arm, lifted her and, still locked in the kiss, stumbled blindly a few steps to the bed where releasing his hold on her they tumbled sideways together across it, momentarily bouncing apart but laughing as they rolled back towards each other overcome with the sheer joy and happiness of being together again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

It was still dark when Molly awoke to the sound of Charles' alarm buzzing just a few inches from her head. She jumped, unused to the sound. Charles leaned across her to turn the alarm off, silencing it and then still balanced over her he lowered his face to hers and kissed her. She was sleepy and her response was tired but even in the first moments of wakefulness she could tell that he had been woken some time ago. His voice was clear and untroubled by sleep when he said, "Good morning, Dawsey."

"Dawsey?" she repeated, her voice almost croaky from sleep, "I'm not one of your squaddies."

"Good job too," he whispered pulling her towards him and kissing her again, "or I'd be in a lot of trouble right now."

She laughed a little. "You'll be in trouble with me in a moment if you don't do your duty."

He chuckled, "Is that an order, Dawsey, because I always respond to the voice of authority."

She stifled a laugh as she said with mock severity, "Yes, that's definitely an order."

X-X-X-X

"I'll have to get up now Molly." Charles sighed and released her from his embrace. She rolled away from him and lay back on the pillows. In spite of what he had just said, he stayed still, lying on his side feeling tired now and, in truth, thinking he could do with another hour's sleep. He had woken half an hour before his alarm had buzzed, overjoyed at Molly being by his side. Having stayed in bed with her well past his normal time he was running late but he was still reluctant to get up and leave her.

"It's so good to have you here," he said. "I miss you when you're down in London."

"I miss you too," Molly said starting to laugh, "I think about you up here getting all those poor devils to build rafts and fall in the lake."

"Well, at least you know what I'm doing," Charles said.

"Meaning what?"

It was a reasonable tone of voice and Charles replied, "Well, I'm doing pretty much the same thing every week but your life must be very different to mine. You're out and about all over the place, meeting people all the time. I can't imagine what you're doing. But, I suppose, you can guess pretty accurately what my day is like."

"Do you want me to send you a daily report?" Molly asked. "Just to keep you informed of my movements."

He could tell her comment was light hearted and replied in the same manner, "Yes, why not, send me a report at nineteen hundred hours each day."

"I hope you're not serious. I don't always get home by seven o'clock," Molly replied, "I don't want you getting worried and sending out a search party or getting the wrong ideas."

She heard him sighing in the darkness as if something she'd said had struck a chord with him.

"Do you get the wrong ideas?" she asked her tone almost playful.

"No," he tried too hard to make it sound convincing and she pounced on it.

"You _do,_ don't you? What on earth are you imagining I'm doing?" He detected a tiny edge to her question but not enough to worry him. He remembered the weekend and felt a return of his guilt about the suspicions he had harboured.

"Nothing really, it's just that," he hesitated and took a deep breath, "well, I have a small confession to make. I saw you with Matt in the restaurant on Saturday."

There was silence for about ten seconds as this information sank in before Molly cried, "You what?"

She reached for the bedside lamp, fumbled and then managed to find the switch. Light flooded the room. Propping herself up on one elbow she regarded him with astonishment. "You saw me? When? After you called me?"

Charles had been lying back on the pillows as she fumbled around in the darkness but as the light came on he raised himself to look her in the eye. He was unsure how to reply. He could hear a degree of irritation in her voice now and knew he was on dangerous ground. He shook his head. Molly's mouth dropped open as she realised what he was confessing.

"You called me while you were standing outside? You were watching me?"

Charles jumped in immediately, "I wasn't watching you. I just happened to see you. It was chance."

Molly had moved on already, "And you thought you'd call me with some story about meeting Sam when you knew full well I was already doing something?" Her eyes were blazing with annoyance as she recalled that phone call and the quandary and panic into which it had thrown her. Charles remembered having been on the receiving end of Molly's temper before and wanted to neutralise the threat in her voice as soon as he could.

"I just wondered if you were free, that's all." It sounded lame even to him and he could tell Molly wasn't impressed.

She sat up and swung her legs out of bed to rest them on the floor. Her long dark hair cascaded over the pale, bare skin of her back. Charles reached out and lightly touched her hair with his finger tips saying in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry I just really wanted to see you." He saw her take a couple of deep breaths and seeing a chance to retrieve the situation he edged nearer to sit behind her. Moving her hair to one side he began to plant gentle kisses on her neck as his hands moved around her waist, "You can't blame me after seeing you with Matt, surely?" he murmured.

He was unprepared for her response. She pulled away from him, got out of the bed, and spun around to face him, still completely naked saying, "That's it isn't it? You saw me with Matt and you didn't trust me. That's why you called me. It was nothing to do with Sam at all."

He stared at her, his eyes involuntarily glancing in the direction of her breasts. She noticed and infuriated by him started reaching for her clothes and pulling them on as if wishing to lend some dignity to her situation. Charles was searching for the right words and in exasperation said, "I was just curious. You said you'd be working and I saw you out with a good looking man. What was I supposed to think?"

She turned to face him, "That I was out with a colleague having a meal after a long day."

He heard the anger and annoyance in her voice and remembering the hurt he had felt in those moments after he had spoken to her on Saturday knowing she wasn't being truthful, he retorted, "Then why did you lie to me and say you were in the office?"

He wanted to bite back the words the moment they had left his lips. He saw her start. He had just admitted the one thing she had feared; he hadn't trusted her enough. They stared at each other both motionless; Charles full of regret; Molly dismayed.

Molly moved first. Without saying a word, she zipped up her jeans and pulled on her jacket and shoes. Catching sight of the bag she had placed on the table yesterday, she reached across and threw it roughly onto the bed causing Charles to duck as it missed him by a few inches.

"Almost forgot. A present for you."

Her action shook him out of his stupor, "I'm sorry, Molly. I shouldn't have said that. It was wrong of me. Let's just talk this out." He got out of the bed and crossed to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She shook it away.

"No, Charles. I don't know what I think about it right now or you and I don't feel like talking about it either. So, leave me alone."

Her voice was small and tight and he could tell she was trying to contain her emotions. He didn't like her leaving him when she was feeling like this but it was clear that she wasn't going to sit down and calmly discuss it with him and he knew better than to push the issue. She gave him one further glance before opening the door and leaving without another word.

Charles heard the sound of her footsteps on the flagstones fading into the distance and sat down on the bed. He shook his head in disbelief. Every time he thought he had Molly Dawes fathomed out once and for all, she did something to astound him and not always in the right way. He had tried to be honest just now by admitting his mistake and it had backfired. He thumped the pillow next to him in frustration causing the bag Molly had thrown at him to slip off of the bed spilling its contents onto the floor. The box of coffee capsules struck a corner of the bedside table, dislodging the card which fell unnoticed under a fold of the duvet. Charles bent down to pick up the package and stared at the coffee capsules for a moment. Rosabaya; his favourite. The ribbon was a nice touch, she had obviously meant it to be a quirky but thoughtful present but it was utterly wasted on him at this moment.

X-X-X-X

Molly opened the door and let herself out managing to curb her annoyance long enough to prevent her slamming it shut behind her. It was getting light now but still early and she didn't want to alert any of the other employees in the apartments around the yard to the fact that she had been staying overnight with Charles. She had gone there last night full of happy expectation and anticipation at being with him again and everything had turned out the way she had hoped.

Now as she stomped up the path towards Nant Glyn House she recalled how Charles had seemed slightly reluctant to kiss her when she had first arrived and had said he wanted to talk to her but his mood had changed quite quickly. She dragged her mind back to what they had been talking about and she recalled she had told him that Matt had been at her flat on Sunday morning. He had definitely cheered up after hearing her talk about that. Whatever she had said must have relieved his concerns. It was obvious from the last few minutes that he must have been thinking that she and Matt were 'carrying-on' together as her Nan liked to call it. She remembered the hastily disguised hostility in his eyes yesterday when he had first met Matt. He must have been toying with a whole set of emotions that she hadn't realised when they arrived. She was hurt by his lack of trust in her but equally annoyed that she had played into his hands by hiding the truth about the restaurant. Her head was aching in frustration at the way things had turned out.

She walked on a little further and then stopped in her tracks. She had just remembered the note with the Rosabaya coffee capsules that she had thrown at Charles before leaving and wished she could go back and retrieve it. She had meant the words at the moment of writing. She'd been thinking about Jackie's romantic assertions last week and wanted to say something meaningful to Charles. But hearing him doubt her like that had only reminded her of the past. She couldn't help thinking she had been too hasty and in too much of a hurry. She wasn't normally given to romantic notions and look at the trouble it had got her into now. She felt tears of frustration welling up in her eyes blurring her vision as she walked.

The sound of her stomping across the gravel drowned out the noise of pounding feet on the grass approaching from behind her and as a hand touched her lightly on the shoulder she jumped out of her skin.

"You're up early." It was Matt. Who else would it be she thought to herself? He had stopped alongside her, dressed for a run and was breathing heavily. Molly was conscious of how she must look dressed in the crumpled clothes she had been wearing the night before.

She said nothing in reply apart from, "Yes, so are you."

"I like to get a run in most mornings before breakfast if I can." Matt said, "It sets me up for the day."

"I thought you didn't run anymore," Molly said in a dull voice.

"Not competitively, " Matt replied. "But I still run for exercise."

They walked on slowly towards the house and Matt said in a tentative voice, "Are you OK, Molly, you seem a bit down."

There was no disguising the fact that Molly felt pretty wretched and she conceded "I've been better."

"Anything I can help with?" He asked his voice had taken on the same tone she had heard last night when he had offered to fetch some tablets from Bing.

"No," Molly answered, "I think you've done enough for me, thanks."

She took care to hide the irony from him. However hurt she felt she wasn't going to admit it to him. They had now reached the house.

"Why don't you get a shower and change you'll feel better." Matt was glancing at her clothes and she knew he realised she was wearing the evidence of where she had spent the night but he'd had the good grace not to remark on the fact.

"If you've got time before breakfast, I'd still like to catch up on a few things. I need to pick your brains. You'll find me in the lounge. For some reason the Wi-Fi is pretty crap in my room and keeps dropping out."

For once Molly almost didn't care that workaholic Matt was on display again, "OK, "she answered in such an absentminded manner that he stopped as he was about to go in and reached out to touch her arm.

"Do you want to talk about it? I know you won't believe it but I can actually listen and some people think my advice is worth taking." There was the hint of a smile on his face as he recalled Charles' reaction yesterday when he'd tried to offer some advice on the first session. Charles had done a good job of disguising it, but Matt was too astute to miss the signs of irritation.

Molly shook her head. "It barely makes sense to me. I wouldn't want to confuse anyone else with it."

"OK, if you're sure, but the offer's always there. Look me up if you want to talk."

He opened the front door into the hall and held it open for Molly.

"I'll see you in the lounge in about half an hour, then," he concluded. Molly nodded and watched him bounding up the stairs two at a time before following slowly behind.

X-X-X-X

Matt Parker was directing his group at the lakeside to build a raft with admirable skill. In any other circumstances Charles would have been the first to praise him at the end of the session but he felt as if the store of charitable feelings had been exhausted in his regard. The row with Molly this morning over the dinner with Matt had erupted from nothing and Charles knew he could so easily have avoided it. There'd been no need to open his big mouth. He should have buried everything about the weekend the moment they had fallen into bed last night. Instead, he had no idea how the land lay between them and they weren't speaking.

Charles had seen Molly at breakfast but she'd chosen to sit with a couple of the branch managers and avoided his gaze. He'd been called into the usual morning meeting shortly afterwards and by the time they'd reassembled back in the group meeting rooms Molly had taken herself off to spend the morning with Bing.

Lunch had passed and Blue Group had already assembled at the edge of the lake about to commence the timed challenge of building the raft and negotiating the course on the lake when Molly had appeared. She stood on the opposite side of the group to Charles about thirty yards away, observing the interaction between the team members as Matt called out clear, precise instructions. Sasha appeared as keen as ever and Molly heard her loudly informing the others that she'd been a county level swimmer and a lifeguard before she'd gone to college. Matt had joked that she should have been in Baywatch and Sasha appeared flattered by the suggestion. She then jokingly appointed herself as Captain's Mate and Matt didn't appear to mind.

Charles strolled around the group as they were working, getting ever closer to Molly, trying to make his approach look casual. She stood her ground determined not to look at him until he broke the silence.

"Thank you for the coffee capsules."

Molly found herself cringing at the memory of the note she had written and fighting her inclination to turn to him and reply, 'Is that all you can say?' Instead she plumped for what she hoped was a dignified silence. His 'thank you' just about said it all in her eyes. She might have been a neighbour lending him a cup of sugar from the degree of appreciation in his voice. Neither of them spoke for a minute or two and it began to feel awkward until Charles observed in a voice that only she could hear, "Matt seems to get on well with Sasha," He was making a deliberate attempt to sound as if he was no longer suspicious and able to talk about Matt in a reasonable way.

"Does he?" Molly said.

"I think she'd like to get to know him better." Charles ventured.

He heard a snort of derision, "I don't think he's that keen on her." Molly said remembering his text message last week.

Charles looked at her, his expression hardening, "And who is he keen on?"

She shook her head, "Not me, if that's what you're trying to say."

She didn't want to carry on this conversation it was turning into a repeat of this morning. If he couldn't get beyond that there was no point in talking to him.

She turned and walked round to the other side of the group passing a comment to Mike Hilton one of the Assistant Branch Managers, casting doubt on the seaworthiness of the raft design.

"Hey no cheating," Matt called out to her with a grin. "You're not supposed to help."

Molly laughed, "Believe me, I'm no help. I'd be more of a hindrance. Me and water don't get on at all."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Charles watching her and deciding to leave them to manage without her turned away from the group and started to make her way back to the house. Charles was moving rapidly in her direction and she almost had to brush past him to walk away. His arm shot out to stop her.

"Molly…"

She held him in her gaze and said in a very quiet voice, "Please, don't say another word about Matt, Charles, or I won't be telling you to take a run and jump in the lake this time, I'll bloody well push you in myself!"

Heeding the warning he stood back and let her go until a voice from behind dragged his attention back to Blue team.

The team directed by Matt worked methodically to form the raft from planks, drums and inflatable bags. He had them well organised and they liked him. He clearly knew how to handle people. In spite of his feelings Charles admired the way he was handling Thomas O'Connell, one of the company's most experienced branch managers and until now something of a thorn in Charles' side. Thomas had been in the recruitment game a long time, almost as long as Kevin Jones and didn't see the value of being here at all. Charles got the impression that most people skirted around him knowing he was resistant to new ideas and he was used to getting his own way simply by being obstinate. He was reluctant to take part in the activities in fact it was a wonder he had even turned up for the week. However, Matt had got him involved having discovered his love of dinghy sailing when he was a young man and appealing to his superior knowledge. Flattery and deference albeit feigned deference was a good strategy and Thomas was working well showing that he certainly had it within him to be a team player if he chose to be.

The raft was well-designed and quickly constructed and blue team had launched and sailed it across the lake without mishap in a very good time. Charles clicked the stopwatch and surveyed the time with interest. He was impressed.

"Not bad. Not bad at all. There's a prize at the end of the week for the quickest team and I'd say you'd be in the running for that."

There was a general whoop of enthusiasm from the group now assembled on the jetty and Matt gazing in Charles direction declared, "Who dares wins!"

Charles looked at him, hoping he was only talking about raft building and not issuing a veiled challenge. He would love to have said something to deflate Matt's ego but he rose above it and adopted his usual professional stance asking everyone to help get the raft out of the water before suggesting that they make their way back up to the house for refreshments.

Charles needed to go up to the office and as they crossed the lawn towards the house he happened to fall in step with Sasha. Taking a sideways glance at her he took in the fact that she was slim and quite pretty, her face was glowing from the exercise and the fresh breeze that had been whipping across the lake and thought what an attractive girl she was. She looked as if she had enjoyed the activity that afternoon and she had been an enthusiastic member of the group.

"Well done, Sasha that was good teamwork just now. You were close to the course record." Sasha smiled, pleased at his praise.

"Matt's a good team leader," she said nodding in his direction.

"Yeah." Charles' reply was short and grudging but he managed to cover the fact by coughing a little.

"He's a nice guy too," Sasha added. The admiration in her voice was clear.

Charles had never been inclined to interfere in other people's affairs of the heart but he couldn't help thinking that it would suit him very well right now if Matt were distracted by the charms of someone other than his girlfriend. If he could persuade him to pay attention to someone else there might just be a possibility of him and Molly sorting out this latest mess and getting their act together. He decided to chance it.

"Matt seems to like you quite a lot, you know."

"Do you really think so? "Sasha asked her eyes widening in surprise and hope.

Charles nodded, "Yes, the pair of you were a great team just now and I'm sure I overheard him singing your praises this morning." It was a slight exaggeration as he'd heard Matt telling Marcus Smith, a senior consultant in the Finance division, that Sasha was doing a little bit better than he had expected after she'd taken the lead on the morning task.

"I'd get him to buy you a drink tonight if I were you. I reckon he probably owes his Captain's Mate that, at least." He winked and Sasha smiled back at him obviously pleased at his endorsement.

They had reached the house and Sasha made off towards the lounge with a spring in her step whilst Charles went around the side of the house to the courtyard already berating himself for behaving like a bit of a shit. It was entirely wishful thinking on his part. If Molly was right about Matt then he'd probably just raised Sasha's hopes for nothing. His conscience was nagging him but he tried to placate it by telling himself that Sasha seemed like a nice girl and perhaps Matt just needed reminding of that fact. He hadn't meant to make mischief, it wasn't in his nature but it was too late to change anything now and he had no intention of giving Matt a heads-up about the possibility of him being subjected to more attention from Sasha.

The afternoon session was over and Charles made his way to the office. Ade was there, sitting on a swivel chair with his feet up on his desk, his eyes shut, clearly taking a nap. They flew open as he heard the creak of the office door.

"God, Charles, you startled me. Just taking forty winks. How's things?"

Charles exhaled, "Fucking awful!"

Ade nodded and pouted slightly considering this, "OK, that good, then. Anything you want to share?"

Charles shook his head as he strolled over to his desk and sat down, "Too complicated."

He picked up a few papers and glanced at them without any enthusiasm.

"Thought you'd be on cloud nine this week with the lovely Miss Dawes here," Ade remarked.

Charles looked up, "That's the complicated part."

"Ah," Ade appeared to be searching for something to say, "Giselle and I have our fallings out from time to time but we always work it out in the end. When you love someone they usually forgive and forget." He wasn't given to emotional conversations and seemed quite proud of this profound nugget of wisdom he had plucked out of the air.

Charles shrugged, "I don't know about that, right now."

Ade looked worried and held up his hands in front of him, "It's no good trying to have a girly chat with me, Charles. According to Giselle I've failed the qualification for that." He glanced up at the duty roster, "I've got a much better idea. Bing's on duty tonight, let's take ourselves out for a bit of liquid therapy. What do you reckon to a stroll down to the Nant Glyn Arms for a swift pint or three?"

Ade stood up and stretched and Charles considered the offer. He could do with getting away from here. He nodded, "OK, why not, I'll catch you later but I'd better finish up here first."

Ade strolled out of the office shutting the door quietly behind him. Charles turned to the session evaluation sheet on his desk that he needed to complete for Bing but his mind was elsewhere back in his apartment this morning. He cared deeply for Molly, clearly enough to be annoyed by the idea of another man paying too much attention to her but what did his feelings truly mean? He wanted her to meet Sam and felt the time was right. He saw a future with her but how far into the distance would it stretch? Looking at the way things had gone recently, the moment Matt had appeared on the scene, perhaps he had been wise to leave any deeper feelings for Molly unspoken. Ade was probably right, it would do him good to put some distance between himself, Molly and this place if only for a couple of hours.

He turned back to the evaluation sheet and tried to form some sentences but the words wouldn't come to him. They turned and twisted making stupid incomprehensible patterns on the page. After crossing out two sentences he lost his patience, screwed the paper up and threw it into the waste paper basket. His mind wasn't on the job and he abandoned the task. Leaving the office he made his way out of the building and back down the path from main house to the Stable yard.

He let himself into his apartment. He had been late and had left in a hurry this morning. The curtains were open but the bed was unmade. He could still see the indentations on the pillow where Molly's head had lain. He moved across to the bed and plumped up the pillows, straightened the sheet and picked up the duvet to shake it out before replacing it on the bed. Something flew up in the air and then fluttered down to land on the carpet. Charles bent to pick it up and saw a small cream coloured piece of card. He turned it over in his hand and saw Molly's small, neat handwriting.

_I got these for you because I know you love them and because I love you x_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Molly sat on her bed thinking about the day's events. She had woken to a kiss from the man she loved and by dinner time they were barely on speaking terms. _The man she loved_. That was what she had thought at this time yesterday. She wanted to believe that the argument this morning changed nothing but Charles' lack of trust had surprised her. Worse than that, it had disappointed her. She had thought that he was different. When she had been younger she had experienced petty and childish outbursts of jealousy from boyfriends. At eighteen far too much of her time and energy had been expended on squabbles and arguments of this kind. Her boyfriend at the time had viewed her as a possession. Other men had been permitted to envy him but never pay her any attention without there being a stand-off or a scuffle. She hadn't realised at the time that his attitude was born out of immaturity and lack of trust in her. That, however, had been before she had the good fortune to join CSF and start the process of changing her life for the better.

By contrast, Charles was a mature man of experience and Molly wasn't aware of anything in his past or his marriage to account for his attitude. It had shaken her to realise that he was jealous too. He might have the maturity to restrain himself from threatening Matt with any physical violence but his feelings were affecting his actions and affecting her. If he didn't trust her, her heart whispered, could she or even should she, love him? She had been thinking about their conversation this afternoon down at the lakeside and on reflection had sensed that he was trying to be more reasonable and make an effort. Perhaps she should try to talk to him about it. This morning she had been too surprised and angered by his confession to string her thoughts together. She was calmer now and more willing to listen.

It was five o'clock and another hour until dinner. All the afternoon sessions would be finished while everyone took a breather, had a quick lie down or washed and tidied themselves after outdoor activities. Perhaps now would be a good time to go in search of Charles and try to talk things through. Molly took a look at herself in the mirror; her hair was a mess and her clothes untidy. She changed and then reached for her hairbrush and make-up to straighten out her appearance before making her way downstairs.

The hall was deserted but the lounge door was ajar. She poked her head around it to see Ade sorting out some chairs into groups for some sort of activity this evening. She called to him, "Hi Ade. Have you seen Charles this evening?"

He looked up, startled by the sound of her voice. "Yes, he was in the office doing some evaluations. You might catch him there."

"Thanks."

She turned to go before he could say another word. She crossed the hall and was about to knock before she noticed that the office door was open a fraction. She tried to look through the crack in the door but could see nothing clearly although she could hear the sound of papers being moved around. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Matt was standing in the office halfway between Bing and Ade's desks. Charles was nowhere to be seen. As Molly opened the door she detected rapid movement as if Matt had jumped and abruptly moved himself. She was surprised,

"Matt, I was expecting to find Charles here. Have you seen him?"

Matt shook his head and said in an even tone, "No, I can't say I have."

"What are you doing here? Are you waiting for someone?"

There was a moment's hesitation before Matt replied, "Sort of. I need to see Bing. I thought he was in here."

Molly glanced at Bing's desk, noticing some papers lying loose on the top, "Perhaps, he just popped out. It looks like he's in the middle of something. Do you want to leave him a note or I could go and fetch Ade, he's in the lounge."

Matt shook his head, "It's not a problem. I just seem to have mislaid my room key and I wondered if Bing had a spare."

"I'm sure he must have." Molly agreed, "Why don't I get Ade?" she suggested again.

Matt shook his head. "There's no need to bother him right now."

"Well perhaps Bing's got some spares hanging up round here." She stepped towards the desk to take a look and Matt moved in front of her blocking her way, "Do you know it's been a bit of long day. What do you say to being a bit naughty and taking ourselves out of here?" He pulled a face, "I can't say I like the sound of the menu for tonight."

"What are you talking about?" Molly said wondering what his idea of 'taking ourselves out of here' entailed.

"Nipping out for a meal and a change of scene," Matt said.

"I don't know, I wanted to talk to Charles," Molly countered.

"We won't be long and you can find him later when everything's done here. He's probably going to be busy early this evening and you'll have to cut your conversation short."

"I'm not sure that we're allowed to go out," Molly said.

Matt shrugged and frowned at this idea. "We're adults. We don't have to be told by others what we can and can't do. Kevin didn't say you had to remain here twenty-four seven."

Matt reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his wallet, "Well, seeing as I have the wherewithal I'll only say this once. I'm paying."

"But what about your key?" Molly asked.

Matt shrugged, "I'll deal with that later. Why don't you fetch your coat? I've got a plan."

Molly hadn't intended going out but it was clear that Charles was nowhere in the house and could be anywhere around the grounds. There was some sense in trying to catch him later when they could talk undisturbed. It might be better to go and see him when they got back. He seldom appeared at dinner time and if he was busy there would be no opportunity until at least ten o'clock. Something Matt had said also resonated with her. She shouldn't let Charles' jealousy stop her doing what she wanted. She'd experienced that kind of control before. It had been less subtle in the past but she was old enough now to realise that his jealousy was not her problem. She made up her mind.

"OK, I'll just nip upstairs and fetch my jacket."

She turned and left the office without seeing the look of relief written all over Matt's face.

X-X-X-X

Sasha, standing at her bedroom window overlooking the front lawns of Nant Glyn House, spotted two figures a few hundred yards away in the distance. They were heading in the direction of the footpath that followed the edge of the lake for three quarters of a mile before it wound its way for another half a mile through a wood. The path emerged eventually at a stile over a dry stone wall a quarter of a mile outside the village of Nant Glyn. Sasha recognised both people. The man was tall, slim, blonde-haired and wearing a particularly expensive, high quality Gore-Tex jacket. The woman was much shorter, with long dark hair, dressed more casually in jeans and trainers. It took Sasha only a few seconds to realise that Matt and Molly had made other plans for this evening.

X-X-X-X

Charles stared at the piece of cream card in his hand. _'I love you'._ The final three words shouted back at him. He had been lying on the bed for over half an hour now staring at the ceiling and wondering what to do. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. No wonder Molly hadn't said anything to him when he had politely thanked her for the coffee capsules. She must have been thinking what a bastard he was. She wasn't given to over sentimental displays, preferring to joke her way through potentially emotional moments and he was happy to indulge her. He was a man after all, a man who'd been in life or death situations. He wasn't over-sentimental about anything. There were occasionally times, of course, when he wanted to be as romantic as the next person but a little private joke between them was as meaningful to him as a full-blown dramatic declaration of love.

When he'd first seen the coffee capsules he thought it was a quirky little present. The card however turned it into something entirely different. Last night it could have been the start of something momentous between them. He might well have reciprocated and be looking at the world very differently today. Instead he was feeling confused and uncertain as much by his own reactions as by anything Molly had said or done. It was clear to him, however, that he couldn't just pretend that the note didn't exist. They needed to clear the air.

He glanced at the clock. It was almost six and Molly would be down for dinner shortly. If he went back to the house he might catch her when it was quiet. He recalled that he had agreed to go out with Ade but he was willing to forgo that if necessary and Ade would have to understand. He hurried back to the house and the first person he encountered was the man himself.

"Did Molly find you?" he asked as if reading Charles' mind.

"Was she looking for me?"

Ade nodded, "Yes, about an hour ago. I sent her to the office to find you."

Charles sighed, "I gave up on the evaluations and went back to my quarters. She must have missed me." He glanced in the direction of the stairs, "Ill pop up and see if she's in her room."

There was no reply when he knocked on her door or called out her name. He was about to go back down stairs when a door across the landing opened and Sasha stuck her head out.

"Oh. Hi, Charles. I heard someone calling out and didn't realise it was you." It was not the truth. She had recognised his voice straight away. "Were you looking for Molly?"

"Yes, have you seen her?"

Sasha paused. She had a choice. She could tell Charles the truth, that she'd seen Molly heading off somewhere with Matt or she could keep quiet about it. It wasn't her business what Molly did or where she went although the sight of her leaving with Matt had been annoying, particularly as Charles had given Sasha the impression this afternoon that Matt might be keen on her. She wasn't very keen on Molly and she didn't have any reason to do her any favours but she did like Charles. It struck her that as much as the sight of Molly disappearing with Matt irked her, a little bit of knowledge might come in handy at some point in the future, especially if Molly wanted to keep her activities quiet. Looking at Charles she shook her head, "No, I haven't seen her in the house, sorry." She experienced a moment of guilt as Charles thanked her and headed back downstairs but quickly dismissed it with the assertion that her statement had been absolutely correct.

Charles looked around the rest of the house and even took a stroll out to the lake but could find no sign of Molly anywhere. When he returned he found Ade in the office.

"All set, then?" Ade enquired thinking about the trip to the pub. There was nothing more that Charles could do at the moment and he reasoned that Molly would be busy after dinner, he might as well go for a walk and a change of scene. He might see things differently after a couple of pints. For a moment he stopped to consider this. He had better make sure it certainly was no more than a couple of pints. Drinking too much had caused him a lot of trouble in the past; he had learned that lesson, if nothing else. He turned to Ade, "I'm ready. Let's go."

X-X-X-X

The Nant Glyn Arms dated from the mid-Victorian era, a solid grey stone building with a Welsh slate roof. Conveniently positioned in the centre of Nant Glyn Village, near the Chapel, it had been serving solid pub fayre and locally brewed ales to locals, travellers and walkers for over a hundred years. It prided itself on being a traditional Welsh country pub which had resisted the intrusion of modern life such as installing a large screen television and showing satellite sports channels all day. This was a notable achievement given that its landlord, Bryn Davies, had been a lifelong rugby fan and player for his local club until his increasing list of injuries and advancing years had finally called a halt to his sporting career. A proud Welshman he was seldom seen behind the bar dressed in anything other than his Wales rugby shirt. Everyone received an effusive welcome from the landlord, be they local or visitor and such was the case as Matt and Molly entered the pub and approached the bar after walking there from Nant Glyn House.

"Good evening, what can I get for you?" Bryn, a bear of a man at six feet two, broad as an oak and a once formidable Prop, gave his guests a beaming smile of welcome.

"A pint of bitter and a glass of red wine for the lady, please," Matt replied.

Adept at getting the measure of most visitors within a few minutes, Bryn picked up on Matt's mid-Atlantic accent immediately and observed, "I take it you're not from hereabouts, then?"

"No," Matt replied, "We're up at Nant Glyn House, this week."

"Ah, I see," Bryn reached for a glass and began to pull the pint with a well-practiced hand, "We don't get a lot of guests from the House but the staff come down quite often."

Matt enquired about food and Bryn handed over the menus and advised them to sit at one of the tables around the corner in the snug.

"It's pretty quiet here now," he said looking around at the handful of locals enjoying an early evening drink, "But it'll be busier later when some of the lads come in after training. They're a good bunch, mind you, but a bit noisy."

Matt paid and they took their drinks, as advised, around the corner to the snug and sat down to peruse the menu. Having made their selections they sat waiting for the food to arrive.

Matt leaned back in his chair, drank some beer and gave Molly a long appraising look.

"You know I'm curious about something, Molly," he began. "Kevin speaks highly of you. I get the feeling that you're his protégé but he's never told me how you met. Why don't you tell me the story?"

Molly laughed, "There's not much to tell. I got an apprentice job with CSF when I was eighteen and, well, things have just progressed from there."

"There must be more to it than that. Start from the beginning," Matt urged.

Molly told him about being an out of work teenager with few prospects and by chance seeing an advertisement offering apprenticeships with CSF. She described her work in both the construction and sales divisions and her promotions, the lessons she'd learned from working with Kate and Mike and finally about the offer Kevin had made her three months ago to become his P.A. "I never expected it but he's always shown an interest and seems to have faith in me and I've got a lot to thank him for."

"So he's someone you look up to, someone inspirational," Matt concluded.

Molly smiled, "I'm not trying to be another Kevin if that's what you mean but I do respect him a lot."

She looked Matt in the eye, relaxed and emboldened by the effects of the wine. "So, who's your hero? Who inspired you?" She waited assuming he would quote a business guru or self-made millionaire but his answer when it came surprised her.

"Roger Bannister." He could tell Molly hadn't expected that and so he added, "For someone who set out wanting to be a middle distance athlete, I suppose it's not that surprising, but I think there's something about his story that anyone could learn from."

Molly had heard of Roger Bannister but she didn't know much about his achievements. She had never been particularly interested in sport and at secondary school had made all manner of excuses to avoid P.E., particularly in the winter or when it was raining. Running about in cold weather wearing shorts or flimsy tops was not her idea of fun. Wanting to hide her ignorance, however, she said with a degree of trepidation, unsure how long Matt would take to answer the point, "So, what lesson would that be?"

Matt was clearly relishing the opportunity to enlighten her, "Well, in nineteen fifty two he failed to win a medal at the Olympic Games and he thought about giving up athletics altogether but instead he set himself a goal to be the first man to break the four minute barrier for the mile which he did in nineteen fifty four. He had to dig deep and rely on his own determination to achieve that goal. It was a significant moment in the history of sport." He shrugged, "I didn't get the chance to pursue the career I wanted in athletics but his example inspires me to go out there and achieve as much as I can in this career."

"What's your goal, then?" Molly asked.

It was a serious question and Matt gave it some thought before saying with an equally serious expression, "To be happy."

Molly narrowed her eyes, thinking of Matt's work ethic which bordered on obsession and said in disbelief, "You're telling me that your only goal in life is to be happy?"

A slow smile spread across his face, "OK, you've got me. I'd better add Millionaire to that. I reckon it could assist with the happiness. Satisfied?"

"Yeah," Molly said with a hint of sarcasm, "That sounds more realistic for you."

At that moment their food arrived and having finished their drinks, Matt ordered two more. They settled down to eat and the conversation turned to topics other than work as the evening drew on and the light outside began to fade.

X-X-X-X

"Evening gentleman," Bryn called out as Charles and Ade made their way through the crowded room to the bar.

"Evening Bryn," Ade replied observing, "It's busy in here tonight."

Bryn leaned towards them raising his voice to be heard, "It's the Gladiators. They've come in for swift pint after training."

Ade and Charles were aware of the local nickname of Nant Glyn's rugby team. Although it was used in jest, looking around the room, Charles thought that in a few cases the description seemed apt. There were a few big lads on the team this year and two of them were Bryn's sons, most definitely chips off the old block. Bryn had attempted to recruit Ade for the Gladiators when he had first moved into the area hearing that he'd captained his school team and made the first fifteen at university. Ade had politely declined on the fabricated grounds of having an old injury from his army service. The truth was that Giselle would never have forgiven him if he'd spent every Saturday playing rugby during the season and he knew better than to get on the wrong side of the woman he loved. Charles, who genuinely couldn't play rugby anymore, had never been asked to join the team and hoped that this was because news of his injury had filtered through rather than having been rejected out of hand without any consideration. He didn't want to play rugby but it was always nice to be given the opportunity to at least decline an invitation.

Charles had been to the Nant Glyn Arms on a number of occasions but Ade was by far the best known customer from Nant Glyn House. It had taken Ade and Charles only about twenty minutes to walk here and the light had been starting to fade on the way. By the time they had arrived it was practically dark. Ade had ensured that they brought head torches with them but also assured Charles that he could probably find his way back by instinct alone. They ordered a couple of pints and were moving away from the bar when Bryn commented,

"It's a busy night for customers from the House."

The noise levels were still high and Ade called out, "What's that about customers from the House?"

Bryn raised his voice so that both Ade and Charles could hear, "Well, you lot are like buses. No one comes in for ages and then two lots come along at once."

"Who else is here?" Ade enquired.

"I don't know their names but it's a chap and a girl," Bryn shouted above the din. "Said they were up at the House for a week. He's tall, sounds like a Yank and a dark-haired girl. They're sitting around the corner in the snug. Do you know them?"

Ade turned to look at Charles and he detected a hint of concern in his friend's eyes as he said, "Do they sound familiar to you, Charles?"

Charles nodded. He knew exactly who Bryn was describing and taking a deep breath started to push his way through the groups of rugby players in the direction of the snug.

X-X-X-X

The taxi drew up in the courtyard at the rear of Nant Glyn House. Calling a taxi to take them home had been a wise decision by Matt. When the bar had filled up with large, noisy rugby players crowding the place, they had decided to leave and had slipped out without being noticed by the landlord who was busy serving pints. It had been getting dark when Matt and Molly had left the pub and they realised it would be completely dark before they returned. With neither of them possessing a torch, Molly hadn't fancied their chances of negotiating the way back along the path and through the rising grounds of the woods without mishap. The footpath was the shortest route to the House but after a meal and a couple of drinks, Molly was glad of the car ride home.

As they walked into the hall Molly could tell by the sounds of laughter and conversation coming from the bar that the evening's activities had concluded and the CSF employees were now relaxing and unwinding. She turned to Matt, "You'd better go and find Bing?"

Matt looked at her blankly, "Bing?"

Molly nodded her head, "Yeah, you know. To find you a spare key for your room?"

Matt's expression lightened, "Oh, yes, thanks for reminding me. I'll pop along and see him now. What are you going to do?"

"See Charles." She started to move away from him towards the door, "Thanks for the meal, it was nice."

Matt grinned at her, "You're welcome and thank you for your company. That was nice too."

He stayed in the hall and watched her leave, standing there for a full two minutes after she had gone.

Charles' apartment was in darkness. Molly knocked on the door, hoping in vain that he might just be having a nap or sitting there without the light on for some reason. However, it was quickly apparent that there was no one there. She assumed that he must be in the House and she had missed him. Kicking herself for not checking in the bar first she quickly made her way back.

Bing, standing behind the bar ever the convivial host, was holding court with a gaggle of CSF employees all exchanging stories and noisy banter. There was a lot of laughter. Molly scanned the room but there was no sign of Charles. She approached the bar and Bing caught sight of her, "Hello Molly. Didn't see you earlier. Decided to give the evening challenge a miss then?"

She nodded, "Yes, sorry about that. Have you seen Charles anywhere? Only he's not in his apartment."

The noise from the group around Bing increased dramatically as they burst into laughter at the punchline to a joke. He moved away from them and leaned across to speak to Molly.

"Charles and Ade have gone down to the Nant Glyn Arms for a couple of pints. They fancied a change of scene."

The news surprised Molly but in that same moment she found herself grateful that on this occasion she hadn't run into them. In spite of what she had told herself about having the right to do whatever she liked, she was glad she hadn't provided another occasion to inflame Charles' jealousy by catching herself and Matt having an apparently intimate meal together no matter how innocent it had been in reality.

She nodded her head at Bing, "I see. That explains it then. Do you know when they'll be back?"

Bing glanced at the clock and then hazarded a guess, "Hard to say. Might not be until after closing time, if I know Ade."

Molly was disappointed but tried not show it as she thanked Bing and turned to go until a thought occurred to her and she called out,

"Oh, did you manage to get Matt sorted out?"

The meaning of her question didn't register with him. "What do you mean?"

"His room key?"

"What's wrong with his key?" Bing asked.

"He lost it today and was going to ask you give him a spare," Molly answered. "In fact, he was coming in here to find you."

"When was this?" Bing frowned.

Molly glanced at the clock, "About fifteen minutes ago. Didn't he come in here?"

Bing shook his head, "No. I haven't seen him at all this evening."

Molly was perplexed. She'd left Matt standing in the hall about to head in the direction of the bar.

"Something wrong?" Bing asked.

She shook her head, "No, I must have been mistaken."

At that moment the group behind Bing started calling loudly for him to come back and settle a friendly dispute and waving at her he wandered back towards them to fulfil his duties as host.

Molly had no desire to stay in the bar and with no prospect of being able to see Charles this evening she decided to go up to her room and have an early night. It had been an emotional day and after the food and wine she was feeling tired. As she made her way along the landing, she passed Matt's room and in spite of feeling weary she paused as her curiosity got the better of her. She knocked quietly on the door and heard footsteps approaching. When Matt opened the door he was clearly surprised. She could just make out his laptop and some papers lying across the bed. He was as good as his word, when it came to work.

"Hi Molly. Did you want something?"

"No, not really, Matt. I just wanted to check that you managed to get your room key sorted out. I didn't like to think of you sleeping on the sofa in the lounge," she added the last part as a joke. She knew it was pathetic but she wanted her enquiry to sound genuine.

"Yeah, as you can see, all sorted. Bing was great about it." Matt was nodding his head and giving her his usual self-assured smile.

Molly returned it, "Great. Goodnight then." She turned away quickly not wanting him to see the bemused expression on her face and continued along the corridor to her own room.

She heard Matt call, "Goodnight. Sleep tight!" as she walked away and then the sound of his door closing. She reached her room , unlocked it and went in. Switching on the bedside lamp she sat down heavily on the bed, sighed, and ran her fingers through her hair, confused by what she had just heard. For some reason, that she didn't understand, Matt had deliberately lied to her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

The Rosabya coffee capsules sitting on the kitchen side stared up at Charles. Looking at them he thought of the buyer and was stumped as to what to do next. Yesterday, by the time he had gone in search of Molly he'd had everything planned in his mind; an apology for the deception over the restaurant and a plea to wipe the slate clean and start again in the spirit of openness. However, not being able to find her, followed by the discovery that she had been at the pub with Matt had thrown those plans into disarray.

If Charles was honest, when he had ventured around the corner into the snug of the Nant Glyn Arms and seen no one there, he'd been relieved. The last thing he'd wanted was an encounter of that kind with Matt and Ade looking on. Although, it didn't lessen the disquiet he felt about Molly going out with Matt again, the presence of Ade had at least allowed him to keep his feelings contained and Ade's easy acceptance of the situation had encouraged Charles to try see it innocently the same way that Ade did. For a few minutes at least, Charles had felt calm about the situation until Ade had spoiled it by saying, "Mind you, can't say I'd like that chap hanging around Giselle too much. There's something about him I can't quite put my finger on. It's good of you to be so cool about it all, Charles."

Charles accepted the compliment in silence. If Ade only knew the turmoil that Matt had caused him during the last week, he wouldn't be so quick to praise him. Matt's cocksure attitude had grated on him even when it had no direct bearing on anything Charles was doing. Charles had struggled but retained his professional façade at all times. He was determined never to lose his focus in that regard.

Charles picked up the mug of coffee and glanced out of the window. It was a fine, sunny day with clear blue skies, almost like late summer and he decided to stroll over to the House and go out onto the terrace. Today he felt particularly in need of the calming influence of the landscape and a quiet ten minutes reflection whilst he took in the views, feeling it was the best antidote to the stress that had been building during yesterday. At the back of his mind he hoped he might see Molly. He didn't know what he was going to say if he did see her but he was determined to say something. The silence had to end.

X-X-X-X

Molly quietly descended the stairs. It was early and she wanted to get out and about before anyone else and she hoped to see Charles. She knew his habits well enough by now and looking out of the window at the beautiful weather she felt sure he would take a stroll to his favourite viewpoint to consume his favourite coffee.

She pushed open the door of the lounge and caught sight of the water on the lake, blue and sparkling in the sunshine. She started to make her way towards the French doors that led out onto the terrace when she noticed Matt's laptop and some papers on a low table in the corner of the room. She was surprised to see them unaccompanied by the man himself. The laptop was open and she was curious. She remembered him saying that the Wi-Fi was unreliable in his room. He must have come downstairs before anyone was up in order to do some work. The temptation to wander over and take a peek was too great. She crossed the room to the table and at the same moment out of the corner of her eye saw Charles outside on the far side of the terrace.

She glanced down at the computer screen. The screensaver was on and she was about to clear it when she noticed some papers lying on the table to the side. Most were placed face down but one was up the right way although partially obscured by a blank sheet lying diagonally across. She realised that Matt must only have slipped out for a minute or two and might be back at any moment and was worried about touching anything. She glanced down at the paper. It looked like the front page of a report. She caught the words _'An Evaluation of C….' _the paper obscured the rest but looking at the bottom of the page she could see the words _'Report prepared for CSF Limited by Parker Hamilton Inc.'._

At that moment she caught the movement of the lounge door and shot across to the window, pretending to look out.

"Molly!" Matt came into the room holding a cup of coffee. "You're up early."

Was it her imagination or did he sound just a little flustered? "Oh you know, "Molly smiled, trying to sound casual. "The early bird and all that."

Matt looked at her. Just the smallest crease of his brow betrayed a hint of concern. "I was just getting some coffee from the kitchen. The cook's very kind to me," he said by way of explanation for his absence although the steaming mug in his hand was evidence enough.

"I can't think why?" Molly muttered disguising her comment with a cough. "Are you working?" she asked indicating the laptop as if she had only just noticed it.

"Yeah," Matt confirmed. "I had some emails to send off early."

"What are _you_ doing?" He asked

Molly saw Charles advancing across the terrace and, moving quickly towards the French doors and pointing at Charles, replied, "This!"

She opened the doors and stepped out, saying under her breath as she did so, "and maybe I'm catching the worm."

Charles saw her at once. He didn't smile but carried on walking towards her. "I was looking for you last night," he began without any preamble.

Molly looked him straight in the eye. "Ditto."

Charles noted this and said more reasonably, "Well, we must have missed each other, probably more than once, I expect." He looked closely at her waiting to see if his comment registered and then changed his mind about the approach he was taking and took a deep breath , "I'm going to say this straight, so I can't be accused later of spying on you." He saw her start. "I'm sorry. I meant to say I don't want you to feel that I'm not being honest with you. I know you were at The Nant Glyn Arms with Matt last night."

He could tell from her expression that she was absorbing this information before responding. She grimaced slightly. Did he have to find out everything she did? She adopted what she hoped was a relaxed stance and placed her hands on her hips. She wasn't going to apologise. She looked at him directly and said, "It wasn't a secret, if that's what you're implying."

Charles shook his head. "No, I'm just saying that I know about it. Make of it what you will."

Molly sighed. "I don't bleedin' well know, do I? The question is really what do you make of it, Charles? From where I'm standing it's nothing because I feel nothing for Matt apart from,"she lowered, her voice suddenly remembering he was the other side of the wall in the lounge, "he's a pain in the bum sometimes."

Charles couldn't help smiling and relaxed slightly. "It's not really _you_, Molly, it's _him_ and how he makes me feel. I don't trust him."

"What? With me?" Molly cried.

He nodded. "There's something about him. He just seems intent on provoking me and I feel as if he's using you to do it."

Molly frowned. "No one's using me, Charles. You're imagining things."

"Am I?" He stared at her, his expression serious.

Molly took a step nearer to him. "You've nothing to worry about from me. Do you trust me?"

"You don't make it easy." Charles had tried to make the remark sound light but Molly hadn't smiled in response.

She took a deep breath. "Listen good, Charles. I don't feel anything for Matt because, "she paused, "I love you."

She looked into his eyes and knew she was taking a leap of faith, casting aside the doubts she'd experienced yesterday, hoping on hope that he would cast aside his jealousy and respond in kind.

"I found your note last night. It had fallen out of sight onto the floor." His voice was quiet and a little hesitant. It was not the response she had envisaged.

"I see." She didn't see at all but she had to say something.

Charles sensed her confusion and replied, "It's been a tough couple of days, Molly. I just wanted to clear the air with you, try to get back on track and start again."

She could see the earnest look on his face. It wasn't what she had wanted him to say but she was too proud to ask him aloud if he loved her. If he didn't want to say it, she wasn't going to drag it out of him.

"Let's just take things a bit steadily shall we and get to the end of the week without any arguments," he continued and reached out his hand to her. "I thought it would be easier this week but now all I need is to spend a couple of days with you away from all of this and anyone else." He grasped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "What do you say? Are we good?"

She looked him in the eye. He hadn't told her he loved her or that he trusted her but she could tell he wanted to sort things out and get past these difficulties. It was what she wanted too and her heart told her that the rest would follow. She squeezed his hand in return and reaching up, kissed him.

"Yes," she whispered. "We're good."

X-X-X-X

Molly had been meaning to put pen to paper for the last two days but activities and events seemed to have got in the way of the task that Kevin had asked her do. He had asked her to email him during the week to let him know how things were going and to give him some feedback on a few people in particular. Immediately after breakfast when everyone had split into groups for the day Molly set about working on a report to send to Kevin. He had identified a handful of people in junior positions he was thinking of promoting as well as wanting some feedback on a couple of the older more experienced employees, one of whom was Thomas O'Connell. Sending Thomas on this course had been a bit of a gamble. His difficult reputation preceded him wherever he went and other delegates had been concerned about being in the same group as him. This week he had certainly had his moments and the only time Molly had seen him working well was with Charles' group during the raft building when Matt had handled him adeptly.

In contrast to Matt, Molly found that the Wi-Fi worked well in her room and so excusing herself from her observation duties, she settled down to gather her thoughts. Looking down the list of names she noted that Sasha was one of those on whom Kevin wanted feedback. She assumed he was keen to follow up her progress after promotion in the summer. She wondered for a moment if Kevin had asked her to do this report on other employees as a way of assessing how far she had progressed herself in the last few months. It was certainly different from anything else he had ever asked her to do and showed a flattering degree of trust in her opinion.

Molly logged into the CSF site and accessed her email. There were quite a lot of new messages. Some were circulars to be read in more detail later, a number were from external contacts none of which were urgent, one was from Kate and turned out to be a cheeky enquiry as to how comfortable Charles' bed was and one was from Kevin asking her to provide information on an additional member of staff and expressing his hopes that she and Matt were managing to get some work done on the training and development plan. Talking about the training and development plan, made Molly think about the work they had been doing this week. Now she came to think about it, Matt had been working away whenever he got an opportunity but he hadn't asked for Molly's help very much. In fact, he had involved her far less than last week. She recalled the piece of paper she had seen this morning which appeared to be the front page of a report. Then she remembered the name at the bottom of the page _Parker Hamilton Inc._ Matt had never mentioned a company to her, certainly not one bearing his name. For someone so self-assured it was strange that he hadn't told her that. She had gained the impression from Kevin and Matt that he was here as a favour to Kevin. He had said that he didn't usually work in the United Kingdom. She thought he was some sort of independent consultant, an expert on training and development. She was curious now and googled the name _Parker Hamilton Inc._ adding Boston to try and narrow the search a little. Several references came up but none appeared to be a company website. She was surprised. No decent company today operated without a website and it seemed like a glaring omission for someone so on the money as Matt.

She found a few references on business link websites which gave an address in Boston and referred to the company having been founded four years ago. The nature of its business was simply described as Business Consultancy. Molly pulled a face. That was a fat lot of use to her. She searched for the name Matt Parker. It took a while to find some details on the right person as there were so many and when she did she discovered pretty much what she already knew. He had been educated at UCLA, majored in Business Studies and had specialised in training and development until four years ago when _Parker Hamilton Inc._ had been formed and then just the same bland description of what they did. She decided to look for Matt's business partner and eventually located some details on a Brad Hamilton. He had similarly been educated at UCLA but he had studied law and had practiced as a lawyer until forming a company with Matt four years ago.

She was dissatisfied with the results of her research. It told her nothing very illuminating and she would dearly have loved to ask Matt or Kevin about this but if she did she would have to admit to snooping and she wasn't going to do that. She thought it was strange but she would have no choice but to let it lie.

She closed down the websites and turned her attention to answering the emails. She attached a report for Kevin giving him a brief rundown on the employees he had listed and a summary of the high and low points so far this week. To Kate she merely replied, "I was asleep before the springs hit the floor – well almost!"

X-X-X-X

Matt was quiet; unnaturally quiet. Charles had noticed almost from the start of the session that he seemed disinterested in the High Ropes Course. They had done the Low Ropes course this morning and he had noticed no particular difference in Matt's attitude. He had taken part willingly and been vocal in his encouragement but the same couldn't be said for his attitude this afternoon. To make matters worse, Thomas O'Connell was leading the group and Charles had sensed reluctance in the other members. Thomas wasn't particularly liked and Charles had overheard one of the men describing him as 'shirty'. Thomas treated everything as a practical task to be achieved by him simply directing whoever he chose to perform whichever role he deemed necessary. He didn't seem to pay any attention to the strengths and weaknesses of his group. Things had not gone smoothly and Thomas was getting frustrated with a couple of the younger members and starting to lose his temper. At one point Charles had stepped in to calm things down and taken Thomas to one side suggesting that he take the consensus approach and find out what his team members were willing to do. He didn't use the term 'dictator' but he had been sorely tempted to describe his leadership style that way.

Thomas had attempted to take his advice and when it had come to the Leap of Faith challenge three of the group had volunteered, amongst them Sasha who was always keen and eager to impress. Thomas needed a fourth person and, if Charles was honest, he had expected Matt to step up for the task. It was unusual to see him quiet and hanging back.

Thomas, who was unable to take part because of a hip injury, addressed Matt directly. "What about you Matt? Would you be willing?"

Matt shrugged. "I don't want to deny anyone else their opportunity."

"Well, I think no one else minds," Thomas continued not picking up on the slight hesitancy in Matt's reply.

Sasha then added her voice to the suggestion. "Oh, come on Matt, I bet you can show us all how it's done."

Charles wasn't sure but he thought that he detected a hint of pallor in Matt's face which was noticeable even with his suntan and it struck Charles that Matt didn't want to do this.

Charles always made it clear to his group members that no one was obliged to take part in any activity. He believed that all course delegates should seek to challenge themselves but no one should be pushed beyond their capabilities. When he looked at Matt he got the distinct impression that he wasn't comfortable with the idea of this challenge. Charles was conflicted. His professional instincts told him to support Matt if he didn't want to take part whereas his personal instincts urged him not to intervene and let peer pressure do its work. He hesitated and it was long enough for Thomas O'Connell to utter in a moment of frustration, "Good God man, do you think I wouldn't be up there like a shot if my bloody hip wasn't up to it."

With that Matt moved forward and joined the group. He feigned a smile to the others but Charles could see him concentrating very hard. He knew that he ought to step in and say something and with anyone else it would probably make a difference but he suspected that the moment he said something about not doing the task, Matt would be determined to prove him wrong. He stayed where he was.

Sasha and Mike Hilton climbed first followed by Jules Piper, a senior consultant from the Finance Division. Sasha and Mike reached the platform and both performed the jump without a problem. Sasha returned to the group, bright eyed, flushed with success and laughing. Mike was pumped with adrenalin and Jules who'd admitted to feeling a little trepidation was pleased with his achievement. As Matt began his ascent, Charles saw an unsteadiness in the way he was climbing. Every moment was hesitant and forced and when he was half-way up he stopped altogether. Charles called up, "Everything OK?"

Matt nodded and called down something like, "Sure." He didn't sound sure when he said it. He moved a few feet further and stopped again. Something seemed to be wrong. He was tugging at the harness in a futile gesture.

"Are you OK?" Sasha called up to Matt but he didn't reply, didn't look down and didn't offer a cocky one-liner.

Charles knew it was time to act and clipping his harness onto the safety line he started to climb up to Matt. When he reached him he could tell immediately that the only thing wrong with Matt was fear. He clearly didn't like heights. He was quiet, withdrawn and unwilling to move any further. Charles had sensed this and the professional in him was annoyed with himself for allowing this to happen. He glanced down at Matt's harness and made a show of fiddling with the clip before declaring loudly for the others to hear,

"It's a faulty clip. We'll have to pull this attempt, Matt. Sorry to disappoint you. You'd better make you way down again."

Matt looked at him realising what he was doing and followed his instructions, returning to the ground. Sasha and Mike clapped Matt on the back and commiserated with him particularly when Charles declared there wasn't time for another attempt. Thomas O'Connell's only concern was whether the group had passed the challenge if only three team members had completed the leap of faith.

Charles, picking up the equipment and sorting it out declared, "Of course, you can't be held responsible for equipment failures. I'll make sure that's fixed. Bad luck, Matt." Matt glanced in his direction, his composure rapidly returning and made a pretence of looking disappointed in front of the team

The group began to make their way back to the House but Matt remained behind. Charles looked up from the equipment to see him standing there.

"We both know there was nothing wrong with that safety clip, don't we?" Matt said.

"Well, you wouldn't be the first person on this course who's suddenly developed a problem with equipment." Charles replied.

"Thanks for not saying anything."

Charles looked him in the eye. He wanted Matt to be under no illusion that he was doing him any favours. "I was just doing my job."

X-X-X-X

The bar was filling up. True to form Ade was setting up his weekly Karaoke night. Charles had been having a quiet pint in the corner of the bar and reading a paper whilst the CSF employees ate dinner. As they gradually made their way into the room, Ade loudly cajoled them into signing up for a singing slot. He had, in fact, been asking people all afternoon. Some stepped forward eagerly, others sidled away pretending they hadn't noticed and one or two, like Thomas O'Connell, turned tail and left immediately on seeing the nature of the entertainment on offer after dinner.

Charles was waiting for Molly, hoping they could have a drink together. He wasn't expecting anything more. It had been an emotional couple of days for them and he wasn't going to push his luck. He was very conscious of not telling Molly that he loved her when she had probably expected him to say so but it simply hadn't been the moment for him. His nerves were still raw and he was treading carefully. He saw Matt come in to the bar and tried to direct his gaze elsewhere, concentrating on the newspaper in front of him.

Ade was making his way around the room signing up volunteers. He reached Charles.

"And what about you, my friend? Will you be gracing us with your talents tonight?"

Charles gave a wry smile. "Have I ever taken part before?"

Ade shrugged. "No, but there's a first time for everything."

Charles smiled and pushed the paper away. "But it's not today."

Ade leaned towards him. "Not even if I told you that a certain Matt Parker has put himself down for a duet?"

Charles replied, "That's his business." He paused for a second and then sighing said, "Who's he singing with?"

Ade consulted the list. "He's put down 'To be advised'."

Charles shook his head and waved Ade on continuing to read his paper. He wasn't going to be persuaded into something outside his comfort zone by Ade. Nevertheless, the mention of Matt's duet had unsettled him. He glanced sideways at Matt. It was as if this afternoon had never happened. The irrepressible Matt was back on show and he was entertaining a small group of ladies, of whom, naturally, Sasha was one. He watched her smiling up at him, casting the odd flirting glance in his direction, touching his arm more than necessary and laughing just that bit louder and longer than anyone else when he said something humorous. Matt, by contrast, paid her no more attention than anyone else. A touch of guilt returned. Charles had encouraged Sasha and she was really turning on the charm. However, it seemed as if Molly was right; Matt just wasn't interested.

The music started and the first act was naturally Ade who felt in incumbent upon him to show a good example and start things off. Halfway through the second performance Molly appeared. She spotted Charles in the corner of the room and he got up and moved towards her. Reaching her he kissed her on the cheek.

"What would you like to drink?"

She asked for a glass of wine and he went to the bar to fetch it. The latest act finished to a round of enthusiastic applause and as Charles walked back towards Molly, glass in hand, Ade announced, "Next up, please give a big hand for Mr Matt Parker and ..." he looked at Matt, "who's your lovely partner tonight?"

Charles caught sight of Sasha's hopeful expression cast in Matt's direction.

Matt turned to Molly. "How about it Molly?"

Charles saw the wide-eyed look of surprise on Molly's face. He could tell she knew nothing about it. "I don't know, Matt." She had an eye on Charles looking alarmed at being caught between them. Matt was trying to turn up the charm,

"Come on, you'd be good Molly."

She was hesitating, unsure what to say and Charles was suddenly struck with a thought. He put the glass of wine down on a table and moved towards them.

"Are you ready, Matt?" Ade called out over the microphone.

Charles addressed Matt, "Have you heard of a _Gentleman's Excuse Me_?"

Matt frowned. "Yeah, but were not dancing, Charles."

"No, "Charles conceded. "But I'm claiming one anyway." He turned to Molly. "Would you care to do me the honour of singing with me?"

Molly was genuinely too shocked by his question to think of refusing, however, unequal to the task she believed her talents to be. She allowed Charles to lead her by the hand to the stage. As they passed Sasha, Charles heard her say, "I'll sing with you Matt."

Ade watched Charles and Molly approaching him and called out, "Well, it looks like there's a change. Please welcome Mr Charles James and Miss Molly Dawes."

The audience in the bar clapped and a few whistled. Molly felt her face starting to burn with embarrassment. Charles leaned towards Ade. "What are we singing?"

Ade grinned. "Oh, don't worry. I expect you'll know it."

He passed them a microphone each and then the opening bars of the song began. Charles realised with relief that he knew the song and waited for his opening line.

"Don't go breaking my heart…" he smiled across at Molly who still looked worried but was also shocked to hear a fine, strong, tenor voice project across the room.

She couldn't help herself and started to laugh as she replied, "I couldn't if I tried…"

They sang on, the audience loved it and joined in enthusiastically with the chorus. Charles continued to sing really well and Molly, although less vocally talented, grew in confidence, beginning to enjoy the experience and the infectious enthusiasm of her colleagues. A smile overspread Charles face as he watched Molly blossoming before his eyes and he realised in that moment just how much she meant to him. He winked at her and she giggled. Glancing out into the audience he caught sight of Matt watching them. There was a look of bemusement on his face but he wasn't going anywhere.

The music finished and everyone applauded. Charles could see Ade to his left, his face incredulous but it was the look on Molly's face that he liked best. Despite her enjoyment of those few minutes he could tell that she was still stunned by what had just happened; stunned and impressed. He'd surprised her almost as much as he'd surprised himself. It had been a long time since he'd played the role of Tony in _West Side Story_, way back in his Sixth Form days at his boarding school, when Maria had been played by a dark-haired beauty called Emily, from the local girls grammar school who had been chosen more for her similarity in looks to Natalie Wood than her singing ability.

Charles caught sight of Matt again, still watching him. He caught his eye and Matt had the good grace at least to nod in Charles direction and clap politely. Charles almost had the impression that Matt was amused but trying to hide it. He didn't know why but he was determined to have the last word. The introduction to the next piece of music was starting and another performer had taken to the stage.

Charles walked over to Matt, the music increased in volume and he had no choice other than to lean forward and place his mouth close to Matt's ear.

"You said I'd be a hard act to follow." He slapped the microphone into Matt's hand. "Well, just you try!"


	11. Chapter 11

**_Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this story and thank you also for your kind reviews. I very much appreciate your support and continued interest._**

**Chapter Eleven**

"You're a man of hidden talents, Charles James."

Charles rolled away from Molly and swung his legs out of bed, preparing to get up. "Well, it's usually worth holding something in reserve," he replied turning to look at her and wink. "That's military training for you."

Molly laughed, "I make you right on that."

It was early on Thursday morning. When Molly had woken she found herself still reeling from the revelation that Charles could sing and sing very well. The last thing she had expected when Matt had made that very ill-timed and awkward request for her to sing a duet with him last night was Charles' stepping in to usurp him; it had surprised and delighted her. The moment Matt had asked the question she had felt the tension rising, seeing Charles approaching and knowing how he felt about Matt had thrown her. But for once she hadn't needed to defend herself or feel that she ought to apologise and despite her nerves about singing in public she had enjoyed the moment and it had shown her a completely different side to Charles, one that she liked very much. She'd been more than glad to leave with him and go back to his apartment after their duet. The awkwardness of the past few days had been swept away and it had felt right to be with him again.

Charles couldn't help but feel a little triumphant over the Karaoke incident. In one fell swoop he had astounded Ade who until now had believed himself to be the undisputed King of the Karaoke machine, silenced Matt who had been unable to respond in the face of such an overwhelming coup and, it seemed, bowled Molly over. They hadn't stayed long in the bar after their duet and when they returned to his apartment it felt as if nothing had ever been wrong between them. He had woken this morning with Molly lying close to him, feeling that nothing could disturb his peace of mind. They were back on track and tomorrow they would be able to head off for the weekend and spend a couple of uninterrupted days together.

Charles stood up and headed for the shower, calling out to Molly to make some coffee if she wanted. She lay back on the pillows and stretched her arms over her head, luxuriating in the sensation of being here, feeling happy and wanted again. She didn't doubt that Charles wanted her even if he still hadn't told her he loved her, but things were going the right way now, she was sure of it. She sighed, sat up, pulled on one of his tee shirts lying nearby and wandered into the kitchen to organise the coffee. The sound of running water in the bathroom had stopped. She paused for a moment near the closed door, wondering if it was locked. Her hand reached for the handle, a slow smile spreading across her face at the thought of surprising him, when it suddenly opened and Charles was standing in front of her, a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair damp and tousled from the shower. He smiled, "Sorry, did you want to go in?"

Molly shook her head, winding her arms around his waist and pulling him close to her, her head resting against his heart, feeling the warmth and dampness of the smooth skin of his chest against her cheek, "I just wanted to do this," she murmured. His arms folded around her and he kissed the top of her head. She turned her head to look up at him, "I wish I could do this every day."

He nodded, "Me too."

Reluctantly she released him and went back to the kitchen to make the coffee. He moved through to the main room and was dressing as she returned with a single mug in her hand.

"Aren't you having any?" he enquired.

"No thanks. Tea's more my thing, to be honest. I'll get one up at the House in a minute." She glanced at the clock on the wall, "I better get back, get changed and sort myself out."

She started looking for her clothes and stripping off the tee shirt started to dress. It was too much for Charles to resist and he moved in behind her, hands sliding around her waist, nuzzling her neck and planting kisses along her shoulders as Molly tried to fasten her bra.

"Allow me," he offered grasping both ends of the strap behind her back. She moved away laughing,

"No, you don't. I know the way you fasten bras and it usually takes about twenty minutes."

Charles looked offended, "Twenty five at least, Molly."

She swatted his hand away, "Let go, I need to get back and you need to go to work."

He exhaled, feigning disappointment, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Glad you know your place. Now go and get some of that disgusting breakfast cereal you like," she ordered and he gave her a mock salute and wandered to the kitchen as directed.

Molly finished dressing and Charles came back into the room carrying a cereal bowl and munching on a mouthful of cocoa pops. He wandered towards her and muttered something indistinct which Molly took to be, "See you later."

"Didn't your mum tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" she said shaking her head in disbelief.

He nodded, "Probably. Just after the one about not taking strange women back to your room at night."

"Only at night?" she joked.

He pretended to think about it, "Yes, day time is fine, so if you're at a loose end later on before dinner, you could always look me up. I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem."

Molly reached up to kiss him.

"See you later."

He kissed her back, one hand on her waist the other holding a cereal bowl.

"Yes, have a good day."

She wandered to the front door, opened it and with a final wave and cheeky grin disappeared out into the stable yard.

Outside it was light but grey and overcast with cloying drizzle in the air. Molly looked into the distance, saw the mountain peaks obscured and knew Charles would say the drizzle was just low cloud base but to her mind it was still wet, whatever it happened to be. She was wearing trainers and walked quietly across the flagstones to the path that led up to the House and courtyard behind. She was about to turn into the courtyard and enter through the archway when she heard the sound of someone speaking, clearly standing in the shelter of the arch as their voice was echoing slightly.

"Well what would you advise in the circumstances?"

Molly stopped short and out of sight. It was Matt's voice and she was surprised to hear him outside so early in the morning, although she recalled from her encounter two days ago that he often went for a run before breakfast. From the snatches of conversation and the pauses, it was obvious he was in the middle of a telephone call. She hung back hoping he would finish up soon and move away.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. It's not good and I don't think Kevin's going to like it."

Another pause as Matt appeared to be listening to the person the other end. "Sure, I can put forward that proposal but he seemed to be pretty adamant about what he wanted. I think there's going to be trouble. It's a pity you're not here. You're persuasive powers are much better than mine. Got to be honest I'm not looking forward to this one."

There was silence for a minute or two apart from the active listening sounds Matt was making and it was obvious that the other person was talking at length. Eventually, Matt said, "No, of course, I haven't told her anything. Trust me. I've been discreet I certainly wouldn't want it to get out." Silence again and then, "I've got that, thanks, Brad. OK if you can get Rachel onto that and email it through to me. I'll deliver the bad news next week. We'll speak soon."

Molly held her breath, wondering if Matt was about to walk in her direction but she was relieved to hear the sound of his feet on the gravel moving away from her. She peeped around the corner and saw him in his running gear walking in the direction of the house. She felt as if she had been holding her breath and exhaled, relieved he had gone but perplexed as to what she had just overheard. He had used the name Brad and she assumed from what she had discovered yesterday that he had been talking to Brad Hamilton his business partner. Whatever he had been discussing clearly concerned Kevin and she thought of the report she had seen that he appeared to be preparing for CSF. He was certainly concerned about something as he had mentioned 'bad news'. She walked back into the house wondering what he was going to tell Kevin that he wouldn't like. The training and development plan couldn't be that much of a problem could it? Was he going to need to do a lot more work with the employees than anticipated? She wondered if he was going to have to tell Kevin he couldn't complete the report or something like that. She checked he wasn't in the hall before wandering up to her room and after looking out some clean clothes, headed for the shower.

She shut her eyes allowing the hot water to cascade over her head and down her back smiling for a moment at the thought of Charles emerging from the bathroom this morning with just his towel around him. She certainly wouldn't mind looking at that view every morning. She started to wash her hair and her thoughts returned to the conversation she had overheard. She knew it wasn't good to eavesdrop on other people's conversations and she ought to forget all about it but she was still bothered about the fact that she had seen a report that was being prepared for Kevin by a company that Matt had never mentioned and this morning he had definitely been talking to his partner, Brad about CSF.

Getting out of the shower and starting to towel her hair dry she recalled something Matt had said to Brad

_'I haven't told her anything.' _Had he been referring to Molly? It seemed very likely but she couldn't for the life of her think what bearing she would have upon anything. She was just Kevin's PA. She knew a lot about the business and he had certainly picked her brains for the last two weeks on all sorts of minute details but she didn't expect Matt to tell her anything before he told Kevin.

Molly dried her hair, did her make-up and made herself look presentable before making her way to the dining room for breakfast. Many of the CSF employees were already there and looking around the room she saw Matt. There was a place free at his table opposite him and she wandered over, curious to see what his response would be this morning after last night's events. He glanced up at her, nothing amiss in his face and fixing her with his trademark smile said, "Good morning, Molly, I trust you're in fine voice this morning? Would you care to join me?" Molly sat down. Matt's remark was intended to be light-hearted but Molly wondered if he was still annoyed by Charles' success last night.

"Well, I don't have a fine voice, let's be honest about that, but if you're talking about Charles, then I'm sure he is." She looked at him with meaning.

"That was a turn up for the books," Matt said. "I didn't think Charles had it in him."

His comment annoyed her for some reason and giving him a long look she replied, "Well we all like to keep a few secrets to ourselves. Don't we?"

He didn't answer but gave her a weak smile in return and she couldn't help thinking about his telephone conversation this morning.

"How's the training and development plan going? I thought you'd have needed a bit more help from me this week. Would you like me to read anything or proof read it or something? I'd be happy to help."

"Everything's going fine. I don't need any help, thank you." He nodded and carried on eating his breakfast.

"It must be a lot of work doing everything by yourself. How do you manage in America? I'm surprised you haven't got people working for you yet with you being so ambitious." She tried to sound as casual as possible although she felt as if she was gabbling on. Matt listened without interrupting and replied,

"I manage just fine in America too and I've no plans to build an Empire just yet. Why the interest?"

She shrugged, "You know. Just wondered. You haven't talked much about your work in America. You must be pretty busy with all the training stuff there. I just thought you'd have formed a company or something, you know, something to help you to take over the rest of the world on your route to being a millionaire." She laughed to make it sound like a joke but Matt shook his head.

"No, there's just me. That's the way I like it." He fixed her with one of his winning smiles and she smiled back at him even though she knew he was lying.

X-X-X-X

Molly stood outside Matt's bedroom door with her heart in her mouth. The key was in her hand poised to unlock the door and not for the first time today her conscience pricked her but having come so far and already risked the possibility of being found out she thought she might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. She put the key into the lock and turned it to open the door. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

The conversation with Matt at breakfast had bothered her all day. She had given him ample opportunity to say something about his business or the work that he did but he had lied. She recalled that it wasn't the first time he had lied this week. She had found him in the office on his own two days ago claiming that he had lost his room key and when she had suggested getting Ade's assistance he had brushed the offer aside and made a hasty suggestion that they go out for dinner at The Nant Glyn Arms. He had lied about Bing sorting out the lost key for him in fact it had never been lost. She was pretty sure now that he shouldn't have been in the office at all and had taken her out to deflect her attention away from the fact.

As the day wore on her thoughts kept returning to the conversation she had overheard this morning and a plan began to form to find out more. Today all the groups would be undertaking navigation and orienteering in preparation for the night expedition. She knew that for a period of three or four hours tonight, Matt would be away from the House and it would be her opportunity to try to find out what he was up to without fear of interruption.

Charles had been disappointed when she had popped over to see him before dinner and turned down his invitation to accompany him on the night expedition.

"I thought you might like to see things from the other side this time," he said, "Not to mention having a bit of time to ourselves."

Molly had pretended that she was very behind with the report she needed to provide to Kevin and said she didn't want to waste any of their time together at the weekend working on it.

"Sorry, you know how much I love being in dark, wet, windy woods," she giggled remembering that night in June.

"Yes, so do I, as it happens," he replied. "But I'd rather have your full attention at the weekend. It's fine, you do what you need to do." He looked at her. "I told you before that I understand."

In the face of such support Molly felt terrible for lying to him but she couldn't tell him what she was planning to do.

She felt equally terrible for lying to the youngest member of the Nant Glyn House staff, eighteen year old Libby who had only started work there three weeks ago. When Molly had formed the plan earlier in the day to get access to Matt's room while he was out on the night expedition, she knew she would have to blag the key from someone and looked around the staff to see who would be the best candidate to approach. Libby was young, inexperienced, and less familiar with Nant Glyn House routine than anyone else and about to go off duty and go home. With Bing, Charles and Ade out monitoring the teams on expedition and only a small group of staff on duty in the house, Molly had waited until she found Libby tidying up in the lounge at nine thirty to make her approach. Adopting the most authoritative tone she could muster she said,

"Good evening Libby, I wonder if you could help me? Matt Parker needs me to work on a report for him but he's left it in his room. " She tutted and rolled her eyes, "Would it be possible for you to lend me the spare key so I can pop in and pick it up. He left it on his table."

The young girl hesitated, clearly unsure what the response should be, "I won't be a minute, " Molly added, "And he won't mind." She gave the girl a confident smile and Libby, unsure of herself, gave way.

"OK, I'll go and get it."

Molly was on tenterhooks during the two minutes she was away, fearing that the girl would go and ask another member of staff who would probably come to see her and make more enquiries or refuse altogether but she was in luck. Libby returned with the key.

"I'll just pop up and get it then and bring the key straight back," Molly smiled. She had already planned this in the event that she was successful. She quickly dashed into her own room and picked up a report that she had left ready on the bed as well as a thick paperback book before moving along the corridor to Matt's room. Her heart starting to thump with anticipation. She unlocked the door and then placed the book between the frame and the edge of the door as a stop before running downstairs a minute later with Matt's key and waving the report at Libby.

"Got it, thanks very much, you've been a great help."

She handed back the key and the girl disappeared in the direction of the office, grateful that the issue had quickly resolved itself and she was about to head home.

Molly went back upstairs; the door was still wedged open by the book. She took a deep breath and stooping to pick it up, pushed the door open and stepped inside. She hadn't planned beyond the moment of getting into his room and now she felt terribly guilty. She deliberately averted her eyes from anything remotely personal lying around, not that there was much to see. Matt appeared to be extremely tidy. Unlike her room, nothing was lying around and there were no papers on the table. She gingerly opened the wardrobe doors and saw his clothes hanging neatly on the hangers and was aware of the now familiar scent of his expensive aftershave. She really didn't want to start opening drawers as well. She had no intention of intruding any more than absolutely necessary. She was beginning to think it had all been a waste of time until she spotted Matt's laptop case almost hidden at the side of the bed. It was a long shot but she pulled out the case and unzipped it. There were no papers inside but she took the laptop out and opened it. She was sure it would be pointless but she turned on the power and waited for it to start up.

The password prompt came up almost immediately and Molly sighed in frustration. She might as well give up right now. She tried typing his name not believing for a minute that it would work; it didn't. She paused and tried to think of something Matt might use. She didn't know if he had any pets or what his middle name might be. She tried to think of something that meant something to him and dragging her mind back to the conversation at the Nant Glyn Arms she recalled him telling her about his inspiration, Roger Bannister. She typed in his name in various formats, lower case, upper case and combination but they were all unsuccessful. She was about to give up but thinking Matt might use letters and numbers she typed _Bannister1954_ and to her astonishment the password was right and she found herself being taken to his desktop. She began to search his documents and found a folder entitled company reports and scrolling down saw the name CSF. She double-clicked the file and waited for it to open. The first page opened and she read aloud, "An evaluation of…." She stopped and gasped. She couldn't believe what she was reading and rapidly scrolled through the pages scanning them at speed. As the realisation of Matt's true purpose began to dawn she realised that the chances of her being able to keep her discovery to herself were almost non-existent. She was determined to confront him the moment he returned.

X-X-X-X

Molly was waiting. She had been sitting in the hall for over an hour waiting for the first of the groups to return. She knew that Bing's group had set out first and when they strolled into the hall at half past midnight many of them greeted her with enthusiasm, flushed with enjoyment of the unexpected challenge of night navigation. Molly smiled and congratulated them but her mind was focused on the next group to return, the one containing Matt. It was almost one o'clock when Mike Hilton pushed open the door into the hall. Molly sprang up from the chair on the pretence of welcoming them and looked for the others but Mike was alone.

"Where's the rest of the group, Mike?"

He gave her a sheepish grin, "They sent me on ahead to get the tea and cocoa lined up for them. They're just coming across the paddock."

She forced a smile, "Thanks, I'll go out and meet them."

She pushed open the door and walked briskly across the courtyard. As she reached the archway leading onto the paddock she saw the group walking towards her, their way illuminated by head torches. She could hear their conversation. Sasha was telling Matt about wild camping on her Duke of Edinburgh expedition and he was saying that if she wanted to know what wild camping was she should try avoiding bears in Yosemite National Park. They had clearly had a good evening and were in good spirits. Molly stopped and waited for the group to draw nearer. They were about thirty yards away when they caught sight of her standing arms folded in front of her at the archway.

"Good morning, Molly," Matt called out. "Nice to have a welcoming party."

She waited for them to reach her and start to move a little further away before saying, "Well done everyone." Matt was slightly behind the group and she lowered her voice and put a hand out to touch his arm.

"I need a word, Matt." He heard the tension in her voice.

"Sure, let's go inside." He indicated in the direction of the house.

"No," she insisted, "Right now."

The rest of the group were continuing on their way.

"I'll be with you in a minute," Matt called to the others as they walked away. Sasha turned back to look at Matt and Molly and slowed her pace, curious to know why Molly needed to talk to Matt so urgently and so late at night.

"Well?" Matt asked.

Molly waited until the group were a little further away before hissing at him, "I know what you're doing here."

Silence fell. Even in the darkness, Molly could see enough in his expression to realise that Matt was completely flummoxed by her words.

"How?"

"I saw the report," Molly answered in a slow and deliberate manner. Despite her anger she was able to remain calm.

"You couldn't have," Matt began until realisation dawned, "Unless you …" He stopped speaking, staggered by the idea that Molly must have got into his room and accessed his computer somehow.

"I should have realised you were up to something," Molly said. "No one could be such a pain in the arse for nothing."

Matt began to recover his composure. "You had no right to do that, Molly. That is a breach of professional conduct. Hacking into my computer is probably a criminal offence and whoever helped you get into my room will be in serious trouble."

Molly thinking of poor, duped Libby had no intention of letting her take any blame for what she had done.

"Don't even think of trying to get anyone here into trouble, not unless you want your business made public and as for me doing something criminal?" she scoffed, "I didn't 'hack' into your computer, if you must know, I worked out your password and I'm bloody glad I did because at least I now know who or what I'm dealing with." She glared at him, "You're just a snake in the grass."

Sasha was still standing by the steps into the house and even at a distance of thirty yards she could still catch snatches of the conversation. She could tell that Molly and Matt were arguing although she didn't know what it was about but it was just another episode that compounded her misery at being unable to steal Matt's attention away from Molly. He was always pleasant and friendly towards her, they got on well and enjoyed a joke but Molly was always getting in the way. They'd enjoyed some great banter all evening but the moment they returned Molly was there again, taking him off for a private chat that looked as if it was getting heated. Sasha thought for a moment of Charles and felt the anger rise within her. Molly already had a great boyfriend. Why did she have to interfere with the first decent man that Sasha had met in a long while? The painful realisation was dawning that Matt wasn't interested in her and it was a bitter pill to swallow. She turned around and headed into the house unwilling to witness any more of the scene being played out across the courtyard.

X-X-X-X

Charles had walked the last part of the route down through the woods and alongside the lake before entering the house via the terrace. He was pleased to see everyone had returned and he moved through the hall congratulating them for a perfect navigation exercise performing a quick headcount as he went. They were one person short. He saw Thomas O'Connell, Mike Hilton, Sasha and four others but there was no sign of Matt. He needed to account for everyone before he could sign off on the night expedition and allow everyone to go off to bed.

He asked aloud, "Where's Matt?"

He saw a few blank faces and shoulders shrugging until a familiar voiced piped up, "I know where he is."

Matt turned his head to look at Sasha and was disturbed by the expression on her face. She didn't look as though she was eager to be helpful. Charles got the impression she was almost relishing delivering some information that she knew was going to be unpleasant. He remembered all the attempts in vain to capture Matt's attention which he had witnessed, the false encouragement that he himself had given her, even the way Molly had seemed to be slightly dismissive of her. He was wary but had no choice.

"Where is he?" Charles asked.

"Outside in the courtyard," she replied. "He's not on his own, though."

Charles felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. "Molly's with him." Sasha gave a hollow laugh, "It looks like they're having a tiff." She shot a look at Charles and registered in her face he saw all the disappointment of her hopes.

Without a word, he turned and made his way out through the heavy oak door into the dark courtyard. He shut the door quietly behind him and peered into the gloom looking for Matt and Molly. He heard the sound of voices on the other side and could just make out in the shadow of a security light the tall figure of Matt and close to him the shorter and familiar form of Molly. Charles walked slowly in their direction staying close to the wall and in the shadows. As he drew nearer he could make out the conversation clearly and could tell that Molly was angry.

"You lied to me."

"I haven't lied to you at all," came Matt's terse reply.

"Well, you haven't been completely honest, have you?" Molly retorted.

"You know why that is." He lowered his voice. "Surely, you must understand my reasons for not telling you."

"Yeah," Molly said her anger giving way to distress, "I understand it alright and I should have listened to Charles. He said he didn't trust you and he was right. It just shows how fucking stupid I am."

Charles saw Matt step towards and her reach out a hand as if wanting to touch her on the arm, "I'm sorry."

She brushed his hand away with a quick, rough gesture. "Don't touch me."

She turned away from Matt and started to head back to the house. Charles slunk back into the shadows. He didn't want to be caught eavesdropping. Right now, he'd give anything not to be here witnessing this scene and silently cursed Sasha. Matt called out to Molly, the concern in his voice evident.

"Will you tell Charles?"

Molly turned back to look at Matt. There was silence for a full ten seconds and Charles guessed she was weighing up an answer.

"I might be a bit thick sometimes, but I'm not a total idiot."

There was a pause before Matt's voice called out, "Thank you."

Charles almost jumped as Molly yelled back at Matt, "Don't you dare say thank you. You don't deserve it!"

With that she fled back into the house and he thought he heard a stifled sob as she ran past him. He was thrown into turmoil. He hadn't got a clue what he has just witnessed, why they were arguing and disturbingly why Molly had just agreed not to tell him something. He was torn between confronting Matt and simply walking away. He didn't think it likely that he would elicit any straight answer from Matt and knew that he ought to find Molly, right now. Matt was still standing in the courtyard and he didn't want to suddenly emerge from the shadows whilst Matt was still nearby. Charles could see him in the gloom, his hands on his hips and the sound of him taking a few deep breaths to try to steady himself before giving vent to his feelings and uttering in a fierce tone "Fucking hell!"

Matt turned on his heel and walked back in the direction of the House. Eventually Charles heard the door opening and closing. He waited a couple of minutes not wanting to be seen returning immediately afterwards in case Matt was in the hall. Judging it to be safe, he set out across the courtyard to the main entrance and was about to open the door when he was stopped by an urgent voice calling his name. He turned to see Bing marching at speed towards him.

"Need your help. Ade's group have gone astray somewhere, we need to do a recce and try to round them up. Can you get the Land Rover and go up to the top end of the woods via Nant Glyn. See if they've taken the wrong path."

Charles nodded, "Sure, I'll get the keys and be there in about ten minutes."

Damn, that was the last thing he wanted to be doing. He had been intending to find Molly and ask her straight out what had been going on just now. He made his way into the house to go to the office and collect the Land Rover keys. As he entered the hall he looked around hoping that the group would still be there and Molly with them but only Thomas O'Connell and Mike Hilton were there.

"Everyone gone to bed?" he enquired.

Thomas and Mike both nodded and Charles had no choice but to collect the car keys and go back outside.

By the time he had driven out to the woods, re-walked part of the path searching in vain for Ade's group only to be eventually informed that they had been located and were almost back at the House and then driven back, an hour had passed. It was two o'clock in the morning. He couldn't go knocking on doors and disturbing everyone at this time of night. He had no choice but to return to his apartment, grab a few hours' sleep and bide his time until the morning.


	12. Chapter 12

**_I apologise for the delay in updating. Here are the final four chapters of 'Misunderstood – Above and Beyond'. I've decided to upload the conclusion of the story in one chunk in the hope that you will find it more enjoyable to read that way. Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, commented or PM'd me about my stories during the past six months. It's been fun although hard work sometimes as well. I hadn't expected to write these last two 'Misunderstood 'stories so it was a surprise to me that they materialised and I enjoyed writing them. However, I'm planning on taking a break from fanfiction writing now. I've really appreciated all the interest, kind words, support and encouragement from everyone. You've all been brilliant. Thank you._**

**Chapter Twelve**

Sleep had evaded Molly. She had lain awake through the long hours of the night feeling confused, upset and perplexed about her next step following her discovery of Matt's true purpose for being at Nant Glyn House. However, her overriding feeling was one of anger compounded by finding herself in the very difficult and uncomfortable position of being obliged to keep Matt's secret. She didn't like what she had uncovered, she was loathe to do him any favours and she had no intention of letting him wheedle his way into her good opinion however much he might think himself capable of doing so.

From the first moment they had met at the airport, Molly had found Matt's personality difficult to fathom. He had alternated between annoying, cocksure, smartass in some situations to engaging, personable and amiable in others. There were plenty of CSF employees eating out of his hand, proclaiming him to be a nice guy and queueing up to talk to him and buy him a drink in the bar at the end of the day. She remembered the pleasant exchanges in the Mexican restaurant between them when Matt had opened up a little about himself and talked about his athletics career that had been cut short as well as recounting some amusing and self-deprecating stories. He'd shown a lot of interest in Molly, her life and her relationship with Charles and she'd genuinely begun to change her mind about him until he had ruined everything the following morning by turning up at her flat uninvited. There had even been moments when he had seemed genuinely concerned for her and others. She remembered when she had complained of a headache on Monday and when Kate had pretended to succumb to a dizzy spell in the office, he had fussed around them seeming concerned. It appeared that there were two distinct sides to his personality and he seemed able to turn them on and off at will. However, now she also knew there were two sides to his activities as well. He was a skilful operator and it was hard to know which personality was the real Matt Parker.

There was no denying that she was uncertain about what to do next. She knew that there were questions she had to ask, ones to which she might not like the answers but at the appropriate moment she would have to ask them. It was almost four in the morning before she dozed off. When she woke again at seven she felt weary and her movements as she tried to rouse herself from sleep were sluggish. She had no enthusiasm for the day's activities and all she longed for was to get away from here and away from Matt.

She was not to be granted her wish. Entering the Dining Room for breakfast, the first person she met was Matt. From the look on his face she suspected he had been there sometime deliberately waiting for her to appear. He spoke quietly to her.

"Is everything OK?"

She kept her voice equally low when she replied, "If what you mean by that is, have I changed my mind since last night, then no I haven't and everything's OK as far as you're concerned. But it's not OK with me."

She turned her gaze on him, "I haven't changed my mind about you." He was standing in her way still looking concerned. "Excuse me, " Molly said, "I want to eat my breakfast in peace." He moved out of her way and she made a point of sitting at a table as far from him as possible and had the satisfaction of seeing him turn and leave the room.

When Charles entered the Dining Room five minutes later he scanned around the guests and caught sight of Molly sitting in a far corner with Matt nowhere to be seen. He was glad of it and strolled over to her, exchanging polite greetings with others as he did so until he reached her and sat down at her table. He looked her full in the face and noted that she was pale and there were dark circles beneath her eyes. He began tentatively, "Is everything OK?"

She noted with a sense of irony his choice of words. It was an identical enquiry to Matt but the meaning and intention were so very different. She tried too hard to dispel any concerns and her smile was just that bit too bright.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

He looked around him. As much as he wanted to ask her about last night, this wasn't the time or place. He shook his head, "Nothing. I just wondered if there was anything you wanted to talk to me about this morning." He kicked himself for the clumsy question.

She was frowning at him. "No, what are you going on about Charles?"

"Nothing." He replied again and changed the subject. "Are we still going back to London tonight or would you perhaps like to stay here? We don't have to go." It had occurred to Charles this morning that there was no reason why they had to return to London. Perhaps it might be a good idea to persuade Molly to stay for another night when everyone else had gone. He remembered Bing's words last week and wondered if a couple of days away from hustle and bustle of the capital might do them good and give Molly the freedom to talk to him or allow him to broach the subject. His hopes were raised as she regarded him in silence apparently considering this idea.

"I can't, Charles. I need to go back. Is that OK?"

He was disappointed but tried to look unconcerned, "Yes, of course."

She reached out across the table to grasp his hand. "I'm sorry. I wish we could have stayed. I don't know what it's like to be here when it's peaceful."

X-X-X-X

It was three o'clock and the course was breaking up. The final messages had been delivered and the delegates had completed their course evaluations. Charles looked around for Molly. She was sitting quietly at the back of the lounge. Matt was sitting at the opposite end of the room. Whenever possible he had watched both of them and had noted a distinct frostiness in Molly's attitude towards him. She seemed to be maintaining her distance and having as little to do with him as possible. It was only to be expected after the row he had overheard in the courtyard. There had been practically no opportunity to speak to Molly other than at breakfast and it had been the wrong time surrounded by so many other people. When the final plenary session ended and everyone began to mill around preparing to leave, Charles seized his opportunity and moving towards Molly, grabbed her by the elbow and steered her outside onto the terrace. She was surprised. "What are you doing?"

"I need a word with you, alone, Molly."

They moved outside and he shut the door. He took a couple of paces away from her and then turning back said,

"Is there something, you need to tell me?"

She frowned at him, "You asked me that this morning and I told you then."

He nodded, "I know but it was the wrong time to ask you. I think you know what I'm talking about."

She shook her head. Charles didn't know if she was responding to his question or answering it. He looked at her face and could tell nothing from her expression. If she was acting she was doing a good job.

They were disturbed by the sound of one of the French doors opening and Mike Hilton appearing. "Sorry to disturb you Molly, but you're needed in the hall. Are you able to come through?"

Molly shot a worried glance at Charles. There was something about the way he was talking that concerned her. He was referring to something but she didn't know what it was. At that moment, feeling at a disadvantage, she was grateful for the interruption.

She turned to address Mike, "Yes, what is it?"

He asked her to come through and check a mix up over the course certificates being given out and she took the opportunity to leave calling out to Charles as she went, "I'll see you in twenty minutes at the car." He watched her disappear into the lounge, feeling thwarted again.

X-X-X-X

"I'm going to have a bath."

Molly turned away from Charles and headed down the hallway of her flat leaving him standing in the lounge. He heard the sound of running water and Molly moving between the bedroom and the bathroom then the door shutting and the sound of the lock turning. They had arrived back at Molly's flat about ten minutes ago, deposited their bags and Molly had busied herself sorting out her belongings and putting clothes into the washing machine before making her announcement.

Charles sat down on the sofa, stretched out his long legs and let his head fall back. He stared at the ceiling and breathed out slowly. It had seemed a long journey back to London; one of silences and contemplation on Molly's part and nerves and uncertainty on his. Even when they had stopped off at a Service area to grab a drink and a bite to eat, Molly had seemed lacklustre, unwilling to converse and uninterested in anything more than a cup of tea. Every attempt to encourage conversation beyond general observations and responses had been unsuccessful. He hadn't dared to broach the subject uppermost in his mind, not whilst on a long car journey, fearing they might end up in a heated argument.

It was half an hour before Molly re-emerged from the bathroom in her dressing gown a towel wrapped around her head. She wandered through to the lounge.

"Would you like a drink?" she said moving to put the kettle on.

Charles stretched and patted the sofa next to him.

"I'd prefer you to come over here," he took deep breath, "and tell me what's going on. I went out into the courtyard last night and I heard you talking with Matt."

Molly's mouth dropped open. The shock in her face was obvious. She had no idea that her conversation with Matt had been witnessed by someone else. Her voice was almost a whisper as she asked, "What did you hear?"

"In summary," Charles began, "that Matt lied to you, that you should have listened to me and that whatever it is that's happened you aren't going to tell me. In fact you promised him you wouldn't tell me. I know you weren't happy about that but all the same, you're keeping something from me."

She listened, still overcome with shock and didn't reply. He tried to keep his voice steady and calm as he said, "Well, are you going to tell me now?"

Molly closed her eyes and shook her head, "I can't. I want to, but I just can't. Not yet."

He was disappointed beyond measure. Her refusal to tell him was sounding a death knell in his mind. "Do you trust me?" he asked, his face sombre. He felt as if they were standing at a crossroads at this moment and that they might easily turn in different directions.

"It's not about trust," Molly replied. "I can't tell you at the moment and if you knew why, you would understand."

He stood up and walked towards her shaking his head. Her response was one refusal too many and he couldn't keep the anger from his voice, "No, Molly. You're wrong. You told me you loved me. How can you say that and not trust me with anything? Certainly not why you were arguing with Matt fucking Parker late at night. You don't even like the guy, so why you're keeping his secrets I just don't know. Or is that not really the case? The past two weeks have just been nothing but lies and apologies. Every time I think we've got over a problem, something else happens. I don't understand you anymore and I don't think I can put up with this anymore." He ran his fingers threw his hair in exasperation. "You've changed since he turned up and it's not for the better."

Molly sensed that this was really serious. They had never talked like this before and she felt anxiety building and fear of what might happen.

"Please, Charles. I'm asking you to trust me. I can't tell you what you want to know but I need you to trust my reasons for not telling you," she pleaded. "If you hadn't been eavesdropping yesterday we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

Something snapped in Charles, "Do you think that changes anything? Well, it doesn't from where I'm standing and I'm sorry but I can't trust you on this, not this time."

He turned away from her and headed to the bedroom. Molly stood transfixed in shock. What was happening here? She heard the sound of activity and drawers being opened and closed and went to the bedroom. There was an open holdall on the bed and Charles was removing his clothes and belongings from the room and placing them into the bag. She realised he was packing up and leaving.

"Please,"she cried. "Let's talk about this. Don't do this." She felt tears pricking her eyes.

He looked at her briefly and shook his head, "No, you're not who I thought you were, Molly. Maybe Matt's done us a favour. Perhaps it would have been a mistake anyway."

He picked up the bag and went through to the bathroom. It was a mess. Molly hadn't cleared up after her bath and there were damp towels on the floor and the tiles and bathroom mirror were steamed up with condensation. He couldn't help his instincts and opened the window to air the room. He started taking his toiletries off of the shelf over the sink and putting them in his bag but as he did so a can of deodorant spray was dislodged and fell with a bang onto the floor hitting the bin and sending it over, spilling its contents across the floor

"Oh, Shit." Charles uttered in annoyance. He bent down and started scooping the contents back into the bin: tissues, make-up removal pads, a used toothpaste tube and toothbrush, cardboard toilet rolls, plastic wrappers. Didn't she ever empty it? He picked up a wad of tissue paper and something hard and plastic slipped out onto the floor. He reached out to pick it up, glanced at it and then froze.

He heard Molly push open the door behind him and threw the rubbish back into the bin. He looked up at her. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears and for a moment he felt himself starting to waver but his head was spinning too and his senses were telling him he had to go away and think.

"Please. Don't go."

He held his breath for a moment. "I have to. Right now, I just have to."

He walked past her. She didn't turn around. She heard the front door of the flat open and close and then his footsteps moving away along the hall. The first tear rolled forlornly down her cheek, swiftly accompanied by others and then a flood. She sank down onto the edge of the bath. "What the fuck have I done?"

X-X-X-X

Charles had reached the pavement outside before the enormity of what had just happened fully hit him. He had moved as if in a trance just now, picking up his bag, opening the door, leaving the flat and walking away. Walking out on her. He had always thought of himself as a man of principle, someone who took his responsibilities seriously. But at this moment, despite all the stresses and aggravations and the hurt and disappointment he felt at her behaviour and actions he considered himself to be a total shit. He had walked away just at the moment she probably needed him most. The evidence of that had been staring him in the face as he had scooped up the rubbish on the bathroom floor and seen the positive pregnancy test.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Molly blinked and tried to force her eyes open, aware that it was morning. Her eyes felt dry and puffy and her head ached. She rolled onto her back trying to gather her thoughts until a split second later she remembered last night and was hit by a wave of emotion, the force of its impact as great as if she had run into a brick wall. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wracked with anguish at the memory gave a silent cry of pain. It was several minutes before she could bring herself back to some kind of reality. She reached for the box of tissues on the bedside table, catching sight of all the discarded ones from last night lying on the floor where she had thrown them in her misery. She wiped her eyes and sat up in bed. She had never felt like this before. Even the betrayal of her former boyfriend, Rick, had never affected her in this way. Then she had felt angry and hurt but now she was utterly bereft. If she had ever doubted that she loved Charles, her feelings at this moment as she contemplated the loss of him in her life, proved to her that she was mistaken.

Her mind was doing cartwheels trying to find a solution. She wanted to go back to last night, say something different, something that would have reassured Charles and given him a reason to accept what she was saying and be patient. She knew that she had asked too much of him. It was hardly surprising that he had walked out after everything that had happened in the last two weeks. Everything had been fine until Matt Parker had turned up and she'd become unwittingly tangled up in his world and it had driven a wedge between herself and Charles. She had wanted to tell him the truth last night. Perhaps she should have done and trusted him with the knowledge but she felt herself to be in such a difficult position. Perhaps he had been right when he said no bond could be stronger than love but knowing the type of man Charles was Molly had believed she was doing the right thing and he would respect her position. It had been a terrible mistake on her part. Nothing was worth this pain. Nothing was worth losing the man she loved. She reached for her phone and called him.

X-X-X-X

Ade crept up behind Giselle and slipping his arms around her waist, hugged her close to him whilst peering over her shoulder at the sight of Charles crashed out on the sofa in the lounge, dead to the world, a discarded bottle of whisky lying nearby.

"What time did you come to bed last night, darling?" she murmured.

"I don't know," he replied still sounding a bit groggy. "Must have been after two."

"Poor Charles," Giselle said with feeling. "He's really suffering isn't he?"

Ade could only agree. He'd been surprised when Charles had turned up on the doorstep at ten o'clock last night and although he hadn't remarked upon it at the time, he had realised at once that something was very wrong. Charles had tried to keep up appearances but the very fact that he was here instead of with Molly spoke volumes. When Giselle had gone to the kitchen to make some tea, Ade had wandered after her and whispered that perhaps it might be an idea to let him talk to Charles alone. Ever sensitive to other's needs, Giselle had kissed Ade on the cheek and made an excuse about needing an early night.

Ade had dispensed with the tea and moved straight onto whisky. Charles hadn't told him the full story. He was still too shocked by seeing the pregnancy test with everything that entailed, to share that information with someone else. But he told Ade enough to realise that Matt Parker had caused trouble between them and Charles really thought that everything was over. Ade had tried to reassure him that it was probably only a storm in a teacup,

"He won't be around for much longer surely, he's finished the week with us and once he's done the training and development plan he'll be gone." However, Charles seemed to think that too much had happened to retrieve the situation and it was clear to Ade that he was very cut up about it.

"You think a lot of Molly, don't you?" he said choosing his words carefully.

Charles shrugged, "I did until last week and now I don't know what I think about her. She's behaved so differently it's like I've known two different people." He couldn't even begin to contemplate what the future would hold with a baby on the horizon. After sinking a glass of whisky he felt the sharp edges of his pain begin to dull and be replaced with morose thoughts. He envisaged a future in which he and Molly met only briefly as estranged parents, a more inferior copy of his relationship with Rebecca. At least in her case they had actually been married for six years. All he had with Molly was a few months of what had seemed like a happy relationship until the troubles had started. He was completely torn between putting everything he had said aside, going back to her, facing up to his responsibilities and being the kind of man he believed he should be no matter what it cost him on a personal level or accepting there was nothing left to fight for and staying away. He was conflicted and he couldn't really voice his feelings to Ade. He let the whisky do its work until he drifted off into an alcohol induced sleep. He had no awareness of Ade manhandling him into a more comfortable position and covering him with a blanket before switching off the light and leaving him alone.

"I suppose we'd better just let him sleep it off." Ade said, "Sorry, he's taking up all the room in here."

Giselle turned her head to look up at Ade. She reached her hand across and tweaked him affectionately on the nose.

"It doesn't matter. He's our friend."

At that moment they both heard an unfamiliar ring tone. It was muffled and sounded as if it was coming from the direction of the sleeping Charles. He didn't move or respond.

"It must be Charles' phone," Giselle said. "I think it's in his pocket or something by the sound of it. You'd better get it."

Ade looked at her wide-eyed, "Why me?"

Giselle stared back at him, "Well, I can't start searching about in a man's trouser pockets can I? What if he woke up and got the wrong idea."

Ade raised an eyebrow, "You can search about in my pockets if you like. I won't get the wrong idea."

"Ade, stop messing about and get the phone," Giselle insisted.

He stepped forward and gingerly pulling back the blanket, reached into Charles trouser pocket to carefully remove the phone. Charles didn't move. He looked at the caller identification. "It's Molly," he said looking at Giselle for guidance. "What shall I do?"

Giselle shrugged and Ade dithered for another second before hitting the end call button. The phone was silenced. Ade cringed. "Should I have answered that, do you think?" He put the phone down on the coffee table.

"I don't know," Giselle said. "Perhaps we should just let Charles deal with it."

Ade glanced down at Charles and shook his head, "Well he won't be fit to talk to her for a while. That's for sure."

He turned to Giselle, feeling wide awake now despite the late night, "How about you practice your pickpocketing skills on me?"

Giselle giggled and allowed Ade to lead her from the room, shutting the lounge door firmly behind them.

X-X-X-X

Molly stared at the phone. It had rung numerous times before the call was terminated. She got the message; Charles didn't want to speak to her. The tears started to roll down her face again and she reached for another tissue to wipe them away. She glanced at the clock; it was after nine. She needed to talk to someone desperately and picking up her phone she called Kate.

The phone was answered by Kate's husband, Phil. "Hello Molly, how are you?"

"I'm not at my best, today, actually, Phil," she said not feeling equal to a bit of general chitchat. "Is Kate there?"

There was a moment's hesitation before he answered, "She's in the shower, right now. Shall I ask her to call you later?"

"Yes, thanks."

She ended the call and wondered whether there was a subliminal message behind her failure to reach anyone to whom she needed to talk. She had faith, however, in Kate. She was sure her friend would call her back soon and lay down again waiting for her phone to ring.

It was after eleven o'clock and Molly was out of bed and dressed before Kate called her back.

"That was a long shower," Molly said, trying to make a joke which didn't come off.

"Sorry, other things got in the way." Kate sounded a bit flat and there was not the sparky reply Molly had expected. "So, how did it all go last week?" she continued.

"In one word, Kate. 'Shit'." Molly couldn't help herself and burst into tears. At the end of the phone, Kate could only offer what she hoped were comforting words. She began to ask questions and Molly realised that she couldn't answer them honestly. She soon realised that Kate was at a loss to understand what had happened from what Molly had told her and she began to feel stupid for having called her. She couldn't discuss with Kate things that she had refused to tell Charles. She was beginning to realise that she was on her own. She had made her bed and was now finding it very uncomfortable to lie in it.

"I'm sorry, Molly, but I can't see why you and Charles have fallen out. It doesn't make any sense to me," Kate said.

She liked Kate's choice of words, 'fallen-out' sounded so much better than broken-up. Her words implied hope that they could patch things up again. She wondered if Kate would offer to come over. She would have liked to have her company and someone to share a few drinks with.

"Can we meet up, Kate?"

There was hesitation before Kate replied, "I'm sorry, Molly, it's a bit difficult this weekend. We've got things on."

For some reason Molly didn't believe her but had no choice other than to accept what she said although she felt unreasonably let down by the fact that her friend wasn't rallying to her needs.

"Just give it some time over the weekend, Molly," Kate suggested. "Let Charles have some time to cool off and then call him next week when you're both a bit calmer and you've got things in perspective. If you call him now and start crying he's just going to feel guilty and obliged to come back whether he wants to or not. I know the sort of man he is, Molly. He's honourable and it's too easy to take advantage of that."

"But I do want him back." Molly almost shouted.

"I know," Kate said trying to keep her patience. "But you want him to make that choice for himself, don't you, not out of pity or something because you've begged him to come back? I don't like to say this to you Molly, because I'm your friend and I care about you but it seems to me you've been pushing your luck a bit and expecting too much from him."

There was silence. Molly was stung by Kate's words and didn't know how to reply. At the other end of the line Kate bit her lip and wondered if she had gone too far. She cared about Molly a great deal but she also liked Charles very much. He'd had such a positive effect on Molly's life and she'd never seen her friend so happy since meeting him. She wanted them to stay together but from what Molly had told her about the last couple of weeks and the time she'd been spending with Matt, she didn't think she was behaving in a way likely to promote their happiness and she could understand Charles' point of view. She didn't like disagreeing with Molly but she hoped she could talk some sense into her.

"Molly, I'm sorry if that sounded harsh. I know you want to be with Charles and I'm sure he wants to be with you, in spite of this. I think you're just going to have to find a way to prove to him that you really love him."

The silence at the other end of the line continued and Kate began to worry that she had really offended her friend and was starting to regret her words when a small voice replied, "You're right."

X-X-X-X

Ade kicked himself for letting Charles talk him into a night out. It had been the last thing he wanted and it was clear that Charles meant to carry on where he had left off the night before. Despite having been hungover when he had eventually woken around midday and spent the rest of the afternoon downing cups of coffee, he had recovered sufficiently to start drinking afresh later that evening. It hadn't helped that Giselle had suggested to Ade that he ought to go with Charles. She seemed concerned that he might get into some sort of trouble on his own in spite of him being one of the calmest people Ade knew.

"He's our friend and he's very unhappy, Ade. I don't think you should leave him to it. I wouldn't forgive myself if anything happened to him."

They had started drinking around the corner at The King's Head and Ade had thought that perhaps a quiet drink and chat away from the flat for a couple of hours might be sufficient to satisfy Charles. He had seemed less bothered today, talking about any subject other than Molly and the last week at Nant Glyn House, but after a couple of hours it was clear he was seeking diversion from his problems.

"Let's go into town and find somewhere livelier," Charles suggested.

"What do you mean by livelier?" Ade asked.

Charles shrugged, "A bit of music, maybe, some company."

Ade stared at him, "This isn't you, Charles. You don't do the social scene."

"Well, maybe I'm changing. It's OK for some people it seems."

It was the first veiled reference to Molly since he'd woken up at lunchtime. Charles stood up. "I'm off, Ade, are you coming with me?"

Ade sighed; he didn't want to go anywhere, certainly not with someone behaving so out of character as Charles. He'd never known him drink this much or behave this way. He was going to refuse when Giselle's words rang in his ears. The way Charles was behaving he might well get himself into trouble or end up drunk in a corner somewhere. He felt a sense of responsibility.

"OK, we'll just go for an hour or two but I don't want to go on a bender and have a really late night Charles. I don't think you should either."

Charles looked surprised, "You sound like my mother, Ade."

"Well, she'd probably agree with me. Getting drunk won't change the situation with Molly."

Charles looked into the distance, contemplating his friend's words, "No, it won't change it but it will help me to forget about it for a while and right now that's what I want to do. So, are you coming with me or shall I risk getting into a fight on my own?"

He saw Ade's worried expression and managed a hollow laugh, "That was a joke. I promise you no drunken brawling."

Ade looked at him and sighed, he'd better accompany him and in any case, the way he looked at the moment, Ade reckoned there was little chance of him getting past the doormen of most clubs he knew.

Two hours later Ade knew he'd been right on that score. It was Saturday night, the streets were heaving with people out to enjoy the nightlife and there was no way some of the busy, smarter and more popular bars in town were going to admit two unaccompanied men one of whom was arousing suspicions of being drunk. They eventually found somewhere less popular and less fussy about the state of their clientele in a side street and settled themselves at the bar. There was a steady stream of customers through the door and the music was quite loud. Charles seemed brighter and more alert and Ade had hopes that he might be able to persuade him to leave by one o'clock. He enjoyed a night out with friends as much as anyone else but being Charles' minder wasn't high on his list of fun activities. He left him for a minute to go to the Gents and on his return was surprised to see that his place at the bar had been taken by a slim, blonde-haired woman, wearing a tight-fitting red dress. Charles was leaning in close to talk to her and she was cupping her ear to hear what he was saying above the noise of the music. He saw her laughing and then Charles' hand reaching out touch her at the waist. He was smiling too. Ade knew exactly how this was likely to go. When Charles had mentioned company he hadn't realised his diversionary tactics included finding female company for the night and he was incredibly surprised. It wasn't Charles' style at all. Ade approached warily and Charles, seeing him moving towards them, introduced his companion.

"Ade, this is Pippa."

Pippa looked up at Ade. Her youthful figure belied her age. By his estimations she was probably at least fifteen years older than Charles, possibly more. Ever the gentleman, he smiled politely and said hello but he felt an increasing sense of annoyance at Charles' behaviour. He was flirting with this woman who was clearly lapping it up. He had nothing against her and supposed she was probably a perfectly nice lady but Charles was simply trying to distract himself and Ade could see that he would get himself into a lot of trouble. Once again, Giselle's words echoed in his mind. When Pippa excused herself for a minute to go to the Ladies Ade wasted no time.

"What the hell are you doing, Charles?"

"Surely, I don't need to explain it to you, do I? A man of the world and all that." The last few words were slightly slurred.

"Come on," Ade said firmly, "Let's go. You don't want to do this and I'm not going to let you."

Charles pulled a face, "What gives you the right to tell me what to do?"

"I'm your friend, Charles, whether you believe it or not at this moment. Take it from me, you're behaving like an arse." He straightened himself up and adopting the military voice of authority that he hadn't employed for several years, said, "Now get the fuck off that bar stool and get out of here, while you've still got your dignity intact."

Charles stared at him in silence. Something about his words had hit home. Drinking and trying to pick up lonely, mature women in bars wasn't going to help him. Ade was right. If he stayed here he'd end up in a far worse mess than he already was. He got unsteadily to his feet and Ade walked behind him pushing and directing him through the crowd towards the exit.

When Pippa returned from the ladies toilets having carefully retouched her make-up, excited at having caught the attention of such a gorgeous man, the best-looking bloke she'd had the good fortune to talk to for months, she found the bar stool empty and no sign of Charles anywhere.

X-X-X-X

When the flat buzzer sounded at four o'clock, Molly's first thought was that it was Kate. She must have found time to call round despite her assertions yesterday that she was busy this weekend. She had always been a good friend to Molly and cheered her up when she was down. It had been a long, miserable weekend and apart from dragging herself to the local convenience store to get a few essential supplies she had stayed in and mooched around, unable to divert her attention onto anything else. She had sat through a full six episode omnibus edition of a Victorian costume drama on a satellite channel today but had absorbed very little of the story although it had passed another six dreary hours.

She hadn't attempted to call Charles again and he hadn't called her. It had been difficult but she had taken Kate's advice and decided to wait until Monday and let the dust settle on the break-up. She missed him terribly and just prayed that he would feel the same after a couple of days apart and that they might be able to patch things up somehow.

Molly went to front door filled with a sense of hope and gazed at the entry system screen. To her shock she saw the unmistakeable image of Giselle waiting patiently for Molly to reply.

"Hello," she said feeling flustered. She had only met Giselle on two occasions and although she had liked her the second time she still felt intimidated in the presence of so much poise and beauty.

"Oh, hello, Molly. Could I possibly come up for a little chat? It's about Charles."

Molly buzzed her in and waited for her at the door. She was her usual vision of loveliness; shiny flowing dark locks, legs that seemed to reach her armpits encased in skin tight jeans and a glorious ensemble of designer clothes and accessories. Molly, wearing a pair of joggers and an old t shirt felt like a slob in her presence. Giselle smiled warmly and to Molly's embarrassment kissed her on the cheek.

"Hello, darling. How are you?" Molly could hear the warmth and concern in her voice and felt strangely close to tears. As Giselle stepped into the hall Molly hastily wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Come through." She indicated the direction of the lounge and Giselle followed her.

"Cup of tea?" Molly asked wondering what Giselle was going to say but at the same time nervous and wanting to delay the moment for a little while longer.

"Oh that would be lovely," Giselle purred looking around her. "It's a very nice flat, Molly."

Molly guessed that she was surprised. She knew that Giselle had a period garden flat in a desirable area of west London and she had probably wondered what she would find, venturing into this neck of the woods. Molly thanked her and made the tea. Handing over a mug to her a few minutes later she said, "So, what is it about Charles that you want to discuss?"

She could see that Giselle was slightly nervous now and bit her lip before saying in a quiet voice, "He doesn't know I'm here, Molly. Actually, Ade doesn't know I'm here either but you've probably guessed he's been staying with us for the last two days."

"Yes." Molly had assumed that when Charles had left on Friday he would either go back to Bath or Ade and Giselle's' flat and this had confirmed it.

"I don't want to pry, Molly and I know it's not my business but I consider both of you to be friends and I'm very worried about Charles. He's been drinking heavily for the last two days and that's just not him. Whatever has happened I think he's devastated." She paused and turned her large, beautiful eyes on Molly.

Molly didn't know what to think. When Charles had walked out on Friday he had been angry with her and she had assumed that trying to get through to him would be like talking to a brick wall but if what Giselle was saying was true then anger had given way to sorrow. He obviously cared enough about her and their relationship to regret its loss.

"What does he want? Have you talked to him about it?" Molly asked in hope.

Giselle shook her head, "Oh, no. I didn't interfere I let Ade do the man-to-man chat with him, not that it seems to have achieved much as he's crashed out on the sofa as well. The pair of them are good for nothing today and I haven't had a lot of sense out of him or Charles all weekend."

Molly was disappointed. She had hoped that Giselle was bringing a message with her but it seemed she was trying to put in a good word for Charles possibly believing that it was Molly who had left Charles.

"Giselle, I think it's all in Charles' hands really. He's the one who walked out. I don't know what I could say to make him come back, not at the moment."

She saw the sadness in Giselle's face. "I'm so sorry. Anyone can tell that he loves you, Molly. Are you sure there's nothing at all you could do?"

X-X-X-X

It was dark outside now. Giselle had left almost two hours ago and Molly had been sitting on the sofa all that time, thinking about the situation with Charles and shocked to hear about him drinking. She remembered the first time they had met in that hotel bar when he had been incredibly drunk, so drunk he'd forgotten most of their encounter until months later. She knew now that he'd been very low at that point in his life: the day his divorce had been finalised, having no home of his own, separated from his son and facing an uncertain future outside the army. To hear that he'd spent two nights trying to drown his sorrows after their break-up told her so much about him and in turn about herself. She realised that there might still be a chance for them if she could only prove to him how much she loved him, enough for him to forgive her. And then it came to her. She knew with a sudden clarity what she needed to do. She got up, turned on the light, blinking at the sudden brightness in the room and moved over to the table. She switched on her laptop, logged into her email and began to type.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Bing took one look at Charles on Monday morning as he rolled into the office at Nant Glyn House shortly before eight thirty and said, "What the hell is wrong with you this morning, Charles? You look like shit."

There was no denying, that Charles couldn't remember the last time he had felt this bad, physically or emotionally. Two nights of heavy drinking, by someone unused to bingeing had taken their toll on his senses. He was weary in body and spirit and far from ready to run another week of courses.

"It's been a difficult weekend," he replied.

"You're telling me, by the look of you," Bing commented. "In fact, would you like to tell me about it, because at this moment, Charles, you're not exactly the face of Nant Glyn House I'd like to project to a group of eighteen executives from a national chain of supermarkets who are due here in three hours."

Charles knew that Bing was right. He was letting himself down professionally.

"Trouble with Molly," he answered.

Bing raised his eyebrows. "Might have guessed. I suppose I should be grateful you haven't just gone AWOL and have actually come back after the weekend."

He was referring to that other occasion in June when Charles had dashed off to London and not returned until part way through Monday, much to Bing's consternation. The fact that Charles was here this morning was due to Ade who, concerned about the amount of alcohol that Charles had consumed over the weekend, had persuaded him to leave his car at Giselle's flat and had driven him back late last night. Charles had just crashed out, woken late this morning and rolled into the office looking a little unkempt after no more than a cursory shower. He hadn't even shaved.

"You don't have to give me any details, Charles, but are you going to be able to do your job properly this week or not? If your mind isn't on task then frankly I don't want you in charge of the safety of others."

It was a stark statement but Charles knew that Bing was completely right. He also knew that he couldn't stay here and carry on as if nothing had changed. In one brief moment shortly before he left Molly's flat on Friday, his whole world had changed. He had responsibilities and he needed to go back and sort everything out.

He looked at Bing and shook his head. "I'm sorry, you're right. I'm letting you down but I can't do this. I need to go back to London and see Molly."

Bing nodded. "Thought as much. It's going to be bloody awkward this week, Charles, but I suppose we'll have to manage." He leaned back in his chair and gave him a long look. "Sarah would probably have hysterics at the idea of me giving anyone romantic advice, Charles, but if I were you I'd go back to your quarters, sleep if off, tidy yourself up and roll up tomorrow fresh and fully on your mettle. Because, frankly, in spite of your, no doubt manifold charms, the sight of you clutching a bunch of red roses wouldn't bowl me over right now."

"Bloody hell, Bing! Is there something you need tell us?" Ade had pushed open the office door and entered the room in time to hear the last sentence. He looked from Bing to Charles, noticing the latter's dishevelled appearance despite a night's sleep.

Bing gave a rueful smile and shook his head, "Only, this Ade. You've got nine in your group this week. Charles is taking some leave."

Ade looked at Charles and catching his friend's eye said, "Good luck."

X-X-X-X

Molly pushed open the door of CSF's Head Office and strolled with purpose across the lobby.

"Morning, Molly. You're a bit late today and looking pretty casual. Day off or something?" Dave, the security guard at the front desk called out to her noting her late arrival at almost eleven o'clock and taking in the unusual sight of her dressed in Jeans and a casual jacket.

She tried to smile, "Something like that. How's things with your daughter?" she added, remembering the conversation they had had a week ago, the one that had made her late on that Saturday morning. Dave spoke for a few minutes about Steph's behaviour. It seemed they had managed to have a bit of a heart to heart and cleared the air and Molly was glad for him. She could do with a heart to heart herself but she hoped to be able to do that very soon.

"Dave, do you happen to have an empty box behind there. I need to move a few things."

Dave rummaged around for a minute or so before producing an empty printer paper box.

"Will that do?"

Molly nodded, "Yeah, perfect. Thanks."

She took the lift up to CSF's offices on the fifth floor and as the doors opened and her heart started to thump with nerves, she took a deep breath and told herself she was doing the right thing. It was quiet on the executive floor at this time of day. She knew that Kevin normally held his executive team meeting on a Monday morning and this would be the best time to avoid as many people as possible. When she reached her desk she saw that Kevin's secretary who sat on the opposite side of the room was absent, as Molly had hoped, taking minutes at the meeting. She was glad as she didn't want to engage in any conversation or have any unnecessary witnesses. She placed the box on her desk and started opening drawers when to her shock and surprise, Kevin's office door opened abruptly and Rachel came out, clearly equally surprised to see Molly in the office and so casually dressed.

"Molly, I've been trying to get you on the phone. Where have you been? Kevin wants to talk to you."

Molly shrugged, "I've had problems with my phone, sorry." It was a lie. She had deliberately turned her phone off not wanting to be distracted from her purpose.

At that moment the office door opened again and Kevin himself emerged holding an empty coffee cup in his hand. His eyes widened at the sight of Molly.

"Where the hell have you been?" He clearly sounded annoyed. "And more to the point what the..." he stopped himself from swearing in front of Rachel and said, "devil is that email of yours about. I think we need a chat right now. Would you come in here, please?" He pointed to his office and Molly realised that she had no choice. She reluctantly walked across the room, dreading the conversation that would follow and entered only to be confronted by the confident, smiling face of Matt Parker.

X-X-X-X

"I bet you never expected to be sitting down for dinner with me tonight?" Matt said as the waiter retreated from the table after bringing their meals.

Molly raised her eyebrows, "You can say that again."

"It's nice old place," Matt observed, looking around the oak-panelled dining room of the Haywood Arms Hotel. There were a small smattering of guests eating their evening meals and catching the eye of a middle-aged couple nearby he smiled and nodded politely.

Molly sighed, "You never stop schmoozing people do you?"

Matt smirked, "I wouldn't call it that, Molly. In business you have to know who you're dealing with and adopt strategies that will get results. It doesn't follow that everything you say or do reflects your own personality." He paused and regarded her. "I bet you think you know me pretty well, don't you?"

She tried to keep a neutral expression as she replied, "Well, clearly not that well or I wouldn't be here now. In any case, you know why I agreed to come here with you and it's nothing to do with your charms."

Matt laughed, "Yeah, I got that message."

Tonight the amiable, good-natured Matt was on show, the same one she had encountered this morning in Kevin's office. In fact, he had been that way all day, on the journey out to Berkshire and all afternoon. It had taken Kevin a lot of time to persuade her but after hearing both of them talk at length she had eventually agreed to come here with Matt. She crossed her fingers and hoped she was doing the right thing. On Friday she would cheerfully have never seen him again and although she had reservations she was hoping against hope that everything would work out.

Looking across the table at Matt she recalled him once telling her that she might be wrong about quite a few things in relation to him and decided to put him to the test. "You've said that I don't know everything about you, so why don't you put me right?"

He looked surprised and taken aback although not unwilling to comply. "How long do you have?"

She grinned at him. "Don't take this the wrong way but I've got all night."

X-X-X-X

Standing outside the Head Office of CSF at lunchtime on Tuesday, Charles hoped that by coming here to find Molly and talk face-to face he was doing the right thing. He could have called her but somehow he thought that a phone call wasn't good enough in the circumstances. He knew it wouldn't be enough for him. He needed to see her and look into her eyes because it mattered to him to see the expression on her face. He had taken Bing's advice; rested up, slept as well as he could on Monday and by the time Ade had dropped him at Betws-y-Coed station early that morning, his mind was clear and he was looking clean and smart and felt emotionally and physically ready to tackle whatever might follow.

Arriving in London late morning he reasoned that the best place to go was to Molly's office as she was most likely to be there at this time of day. In his mind he imagined he would somehow sweep into her office, catch her by surprise and whisk her off for lunch where everything would be sorted out and they would start to plan their future as a family. He knew it was a romantic notion but in his heart of hearts it was the way he would like to have played the situation. However, he hadn't reckoned on being stopped at the ground floor by a security guard asking to see his identification. Naturally, he had none and he also had no scheduled appointment with anyone at CSF. There was no chance of being admitted to her place of work. Charles asked the man on the desk to call up to Molly Dawes office. When the man put the phone down again he looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry, she's not in the office today, it seems."

Charles was deflated. He hadn't thought beyond this moment and knew that he needed to think of a back-up plan and quickly. In the meantime he asked if anyone could tell him where Molly was. The man looked doubtful. It was unlikely that anyone would disclose information to a stranger. Then Charles thought of something, "Can you call up to Kevin Jones secretary and tell her it's Charles James who wants to know."

The security guard nodded. "Righto."

The man spoke to the secretary and then there was a long pause. He seemed to be waiting for a response before replying, "OK, I see, thank you." He put down the phone. "She says you're to go up to the fifth floor. Apparently, Mr Jones would like to see you himself."

X-X-X-X

Kevin's silver Jaguar purred along the tree-lined driveway, the windscreen wipers swishing at top speed back and forth to clear his vision during the sudden downpour that had engulfed them as they approached their destination. Sitting alongside him in the passenger seat, Charles caught his first sight of Haywood House as they turned a corner and the pale-stone Georgian manor house came into view. Charles leaned forward and peered at it with curiosity through the rain splattered windscreen. There had been an air of mystery about Kevin's suggestion to accompany him to Berkshire, informing him there was something he wished to discuss with him. Charles has been reluctant to go until Kevin had indicated that Molly would be there. Despite his misgivings he had agreed and they had left London shortly after one o'clock. Charles had attempted to elicit more information but it was clear to him that Kevin was enjoying the air of intrigue and skilfully side-stepped all questions. They lapsed into silence and Charles allowed his thoughts to drift to Molly again. He had no idea how his sudden, unexpected appearance would be received. He wondered if Kevin knew anything about the argument that had taken place. He had helped Charles once before. Was this another attempt to act as peacemaker?

When they had turned off the main road Charles noticed a Sale board by the entrance to the drive and began to wonder what type of property they were going to see and why. When the house came into view he could see it was substantial and there appeared to be a modern extension at the rear. The lawns were well-kept, the front being dominated by a large oak tree and the gardens were laid out before what appeared to be a man-made lake to the side and rear of the house.

"What do you think?" Kevin asked.

Charles replied honestly, "It's a fine looking house, Kevin. Are you thinking of moving?"

Kevin laughed, "What you think I've got ideas of grandeur now? Going to shake up the locals and play Lord of the Manor?"

Charles smiled. He knew that wasn't Kevin's style.

"No, Charles," Kevin replied, "This is business."

They parked at the front of the house and hearing the rain hammering on the roof of the car, Kevin said, "Better make a run for it." They hastily got out of the car and dashed across the gravel to a small flight of steps leading to the front door. Kevin pushed the door open and they stepped into a large echoing hallway dominated by a central stone staircase.

"Hello," Kevin shouted. He walked to the foot of the staircase and called again, "Anyone here?"

About ten seconds later they heard the sound of footsteps upstairs. Charles glanced up in time to see the familiar and long-wished for sight of Molly appear at the top of the stairs only to be joined a few seconds later by Matt.

Charles stared at Molly and Matt in silence. He had known that Molly would be here but somehow Kevin had omitted to mention Matt's presence. His heart sank. In all his imaginings Matt had played no part. The sight of him brought back every feeling of anger he had been struggling to control. If he was honest he was astonished to see them together. Having witnessed their argument last Friday he couldn't imagine why Molly was working alongside him still. He had returned to London determined to be open and fair and his primary concern was to make things up with Molly but now he felt his barriers starting to rise.

It was fortuitous that Kevin was present as he launched immediately into his plans to turn Haywood House into a management training centre and the newest branch of the CSF Empire. He talked at length, taking Charles on a guided tour of the building, showing him all the facilities and outlining the improvements he intended to make. Molly and Matt followed silently in Kevin's wake. Almost an hour had passed before they returned to the hall.

"So, what do you think, Charles?"

Charles had only listened with half an ear. His mind had been too occupied with the thought of Molly and the uncomfortable presence of Matt who was staying reasonably quiet unless prompted by Kevin. In fact, he couldn't imagine why Matt was there at all. Charles didn't really understand why Kevin had asked him to accompany him unless, taking advantage of him turning up at CSF's office unexpectedly, he had thought he would ask his opinion. He decided this must be his intention.

Responding to Kevin's question, Charles replied, "It sounds great Kevin. I'm sure you'll make a success of it."

Kevin looked him in the eye. "Only if it has the right Manager."

There was silence and Charles suddenly realised what he was suggesting.

"What would you think about running this place for me, Charles?"

He was flabbergasted. He had never even considered that this visit might be associated with a job offer. Charles was about to say as much when Kevin added, "Of course, Matthew will be heavily involved in getting this place operational as he's my co-investor so you'll be working alongside him at first."

The words froze in Charles' mouth. He looked from Kevin's enthusiastic smile to Matt's furrowed brow and then to Molly. Molly was gazing at him in wide-eyed, nervous anticipation of what he would say. For a brief moment Charles had realised there was a great opportunity on offer but the news that Matt would be involved not just from an investment point of view but in a hands-on role, completely changed his opinion. He shook his head. "I wasn't expecting this and I really don't think it's something I could consider." He saw the look on Molly's face, sheer unadulterated dismay and realised she had been pinning her hopes on him saying yes. Kevin looked surprised too. Only Matt had maintained a calm expression.

"Don't make up your mind, straight away Charles," Kevin urged. "Take a few days, a week if you like but think it through. It would be a great opportunity. You'd be living on site here and there's room for two." He looked meaningfully in Molly's direction. He knew Kevin wouldn't take a flat refusal from him today and shaking hands with him agreed to think it over.

Kevin had to return to London. He said that Charles should call a taxi to the station when he wanted to leave or he was welcome to return with Matt and Molly to the Haywood Arms Hotel that night if he wished and stay there at Kevin's expense. With that he bade them all farewell and drove away. Charles, Matt and Molly were left standing in silence in the hall all wondering what to say next until Charles looked directly at Matt and said, "Would you mind leaving me and Molly alone, please."

Matt gazed from one to the other and to Charles' surprise merely said, "Of course. I'll be in the annexe." He left the house by the front door and disappeared from sight around the corner of the building. Charles stood by the front windows watching him go before turning to Molly. His voice was low and steady.

"Just answer me one question. Did you know about this?" he waved his hands around him. "All of this?"

She shook her head. "No, honestly, I didn't. Not until yesterday."

"Then what the hell was going on at Nant Glyn House?" Charles cried. "What other secrets were you keeping? I can understand that you might not tell me about a job offer, especially if you weren't sure it was going to happen but I can't for the life of me work out what else made you so angry with Matt and what would make you refuse to tell me."

"I can't discuss it, Charles. I don't have the right to tell you."

She realised he was growing angrier, "Fine. You were angry as hell with Matt over something last week and seemed to have a very low opinion of him and this week you're hoping that I'll put everything that's happened aside and happily start working with him. You must realise that hell's likely to freeze over before I'll work with him."

She hadn't known he would come here today. She had hoped to get all the details sorted before Kevin spoke to him. She pleaded with him.

"Please trust me when I say Matt's nothing like as bad as I thought he was. I just didn't understand everything the way I do now. I know you thought you couldn't trust him around me, but you're wrong. There's nothing like that and there never has been."

Charles was thoroughly exasperated, "Trust you! Everything's gone wrong since he's been around. Just what do you think I am? Some sort of puppet to be manipulated anyway you want? I can't believe you. One minute you can't stand the man and now you're thick as thieves with him. You're just not being honest with me or yourself and you keep expecting me to blindly trust you all the time. I came to London to find you, Molly, and try to talk everything out because I wanted to put things right but all this," he gestured wildly around him, "proves that I was wasting my time."

Molly felt her heart breaking at his words. They had been within a whisper of being reconciled but Kevin, keen to take advantage of Charles' unexpected appearance and strike while the iron was hot, had possibly ruined everything. She could bear it no longer and bursting into tears she raced out of the house, down the steps and across the lawn wanting to get as far away from here as she could.

X-X-X-X

Matt found Molly outside. Despite the fact it was raining she was standing in the middle of the front lawn almost oblivious to the weather. He took her by the hand and led her across to the large old oak tree. There was some shelter there and they stood in silence for a while listening to the sound of rain pattering on the leaves above them. Matt looked at the tears on Molly's face.

"What is the matter with you both? You've got a brilliant opportunity here and Charles is all for passing it up because of some misunderstanding?"

"He doesn't seem to believe anything I say anymore," Molly sniffed. "I told him there's nothing between you and me and never has been but he just doesn't want to listen."

"Did you tell him what's been going on?" Matt asked.

She shook her head, "I didn't think I had the right to repeat anything I know in confidence now or before."

Matt respected her discretion. "Well, I might not want to shout my business from the rooftops but if it would have helped." He left the rest of the sentence unfinished.

Molly shrugged, "I still don't think he would trust me. He thinks I've been lying to him. You saw his face when he saw both of us together and I can't bear it." Tears started to roll down her cheeks again. Matt felt the urge to give her a hug, but the last thing he wanted was to add fuel to the fire by being seen in an embrace with her and he was pretty sure that Charles was somewhere nearby and probably watching.

From all his dealings with Charles he could tell that he was a cautious man, weighing up the odds. He knew he had a complicated personal life, a young son and a failed marriage behind him. He needed to be sure of each step he took and sure of how he felt and he wasn't inclined to act rashly. Matt realised that Molly had deep feelings for Charles and suspected from his observations of Charles' behaviour during the past week that he felt the same way but it seemed as if he was keeping quiet on her and his silence was in danger of destroying the happiness that was there in front of them for the taking.

Matt had always been astute and emotionally intelligent. It served him well in his business and he used this knowledge to his own advantage on many occasions. He had a good idea of what made people tick and how to appeal to their natures. Right now he judged that Charles needed to act positively and decisively before he managed to persuade himself out of his own happiness. A little voice in his head was also telling him to stop Charles' screwing everything up for everyone. Matt shrugged a little to himself; he could never truly escape his alter ego but he had an idea.

"Just wait here, Molly. I'm going to try something." She looked at him in surprise, hoping he could help but somehow doubtful that Charles would listen. He took a deep breath. "You better cross your fingers."

He walked back across the lawn to the house. As he opened the door he unzipped his coat and shook it to remove the loose raindrops on the surface. He found Charles standing in the reception room to the left of the hallway. Predictably, he was standing near the window looking out across the lawn, his eyes cast in Molly's direction. He turned when Matt entered the room.

"What do you want?" His voice was cold and hostile.

"To tell you, that you're making a big mistake," Matt said approaching him.

Charles sighed and crossed his arms in front of him. "In what way?"

"By giving up on Molly, of course," Matt replied.

Charles was almost incredulous. "Surely, that's exactly what you'd want. It's probably what she wants, too."

Matt shook his head, "Why don't you take your head out of your arse and listen to her. She's been telling you the truth all along. She's a great girl and I really like her but _you're_ the man she loves."

There was silence. Matt's assertion that Molly loved him seemed to hit Charles like a slap around the face and Matt could see that Charles was wavering as he said to him, "And how do _you_ know that?"

Matt took a deep breath, "I know it because she handed in her resignation to Kevin and was prepared to give up her big chance because of her feelings for you. She found out about Kevin's plans, she didn't like the sound of them and she didn't want to lie to you about it."

He could tell that Charles was shocked and disturbed by this news. He lowered his voice as if conscious that he was about to betray a confidence even though there was no one else to hear. "I probably shouldn't tell you any of this but Haywood Park wasn't part of Kevin's original plans at all." He could see Charles was listening and so he continued, "Kevin liked the way you did things at Nant Glyn House. He liked it so much he didn't want to just imitate the place by setting something similar up here. He wanted to buy it; lock, stock and barrel." He saw Charles start in surprise. "That's the main reason I've been over here and why I was up in North Wales last week. I wasn't really doing a training and development plan or at least I was only carrying out a small exercise. I started out in training and development and it was my specialism but four years ago I went into partnership with a former classmate of mine from UCLA, Brad Hamilton, and the main thrust of our work is now small business acquisitions. Businesses like Nant Glyn House Training."

He glanced at Charles. He was frowning as he took in this information. "I've known Kevin for years through my Dad and because of my training background he asked me over here to evaluate Nant Glyn House and give him my professional verdict. He wanted to know if it was viable and what a realistic offer would be. He thought it would be a great idea for me to make use of Molly's knowledge and get myself well acquainted with you. He's a great judge of character, you know. He spotted Molly when she was only eighteen and he'd already singled you out as someone who could go far. He had plans for you at the back of his mind, as well if you were interested. He thought it would be a good idea for me to see what you're made of on a personal and professional level. I thought I'd push a few buttons and see what you were like under pressure." He grinned unable to help himself. "Sorry about that, but you'll be glad to know you passed with flying colours. Even when you couldn't stand my guts you were still professional and did your job. I take my hat off to you, Charles. I can be very irritating when I want to be."

Charles looked genuinely angry at this revelation and couldn't contain himself, "I knew you were trying to provoke me. Do you know how much trouble you've caused?"

Matt put his hand up, "I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention but I needed to know what makes you tick. It could be important in the future. As you will have gathered I don't really want to make my long-term future in acquisitions. To be honest, it's a bit too cloak and dagger for me." He saw Charles raise his eyebrows at this statement and changed the subject, "Anyway, let's not discuss any of that now. I'm trying to tell you about Molly. She didn't know anything about my evaluation of you or Kevin's plans for Nant Glyn House, not until the end of last week when she found out what I was doing." He gave a wry smile, "Let me correct that statement. She got into my room, accessed my computer, read my report and found out what I was doing." He paused and saw Charles' eyes widen in surprise, "Anyway, what I'm trying to tell you in a very roundabout fashion is that you're not the only person around here with professional integrity. Molly felt totally compromised. She didn't want to lie to you or Kevin so she tried to do the honourable thing and she resigned from her job." He saw a look of shock on Charles' face rapidly followed by confusion wondering why she was here today and he continued, "Needless to say, Kevin was furious about her resigning and didn't want her to go. It was quite some meeting yesterday morning, I can tell you. However, as it turned out, luckily for all of you, my professional opinion was that Nant Glyn House isn't the right place for Kevin anyway. It's great just the way it is but it's not what Kevin needs for his business. It took a bit of persuading to get that point across to him but he doesn't let the grass grow under his feet and he's always got a plan B. You are part of his plan B, Charles" He held out his hands. "You and this place." He could see Charles was trying to take in the news and process it but he couldn't help commenting, "You know, if there's one thing about Molly that needs working on it's her stubbornness. She is still so loyal to Kevin because he's her boss that she won't whisper a word to you about the Nant Glyn House business no matter what it's personally costing her." He looked Charles in the eye, "Being prepared to throw in a career for someone you love is going above and beyond in my book. Now surely, you can respect that."

Charles was stunned. He'd been so busy nursing his own feelings of jealousy, his anger at Molly's apparent dishonesty and his wounded heart that he hadn't guessed for a minute that Molly was struggling with her own battles of conscience and loyalty and trying to do the right thing by everyone at great cost to herself.

Matt could see his words were having the right effect and decided on one final gamble to persuade Charles to act rapidly and decisively. "Listen, Charles, from where I'm standing it seems you've possibly got one chance left with Molly before it's too late. If you think you deserve that girl then you'd better go out there, right now and tell her that you love her, because if you don't put things right between you, I'm telling you for a fact that I won't play fair with you over her in the future. "He saw Charles start, "Yeah, I know you think I've been trying to move in on her since I got here but you're wrong. Ask Molly, if you don't believe me but I can assure you that I've never put a foot wrong with her. However, I am warning you, if you don't make it right you won't get a second chance. Not from me."

The look on Matt's face was one of serious intent. Charles recalling the last few weeks had no doubt that he meant what he said. He was telling Charles to do what he already knew he should but had been too proud, cautious or stubborn to do. He'd been a fool, believing Molly was playing around with Matt behind his back, not trusting her every time she had asked him to do so and he was at risk of losing her if he didn't act right now. From the look on Matt's face he wouldn't give Charles an inch if he got the opportunity. In a move that had been unthinkable only half an hour ago, Charles held out his hand to Matt.

"You're right."

Matt looked down at the proffered hand and then back to Charles' face and shook his head in a gesture of disbelief. "I can't believe I've just done that," he said reaching out and shaking Charles' hand.

"I'm not sure I can, either," Charles replied, looking him in the eye, "But I'm glad you did. Sometimes, you need someone to tell it to you straight. Thank you."

"I'd like to say it's a pleasure, but on this occasion, I'd be lying." Matt gave him a wry smile. "You better go and get your girl."

Charles ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath. His mind was already focused on getting the next few minutes right. So much depended upon it. He left the room. Matt heard the front door open and close and saw Charles descending the steps of the house. He watched him cross the lawn to the large oak tree where Molly was sheltering from the rain which had almost stopped now. She had heard him walking towards her and turned to face him as he approached.

Matt turned away unwilling to intrude on a private moment between Charles and Molly and said aloud to himself with a broad smile and an undisguised degree of pride, "Oh Matthew Parker, you missed your calling in life. You should have been an actor." He paused for a moment, hands on hips, to consider this idea. "Yeah, there are some damn fine gay actors out there."

X-X-X-X

The walk across the lawn seemed the longest Charles had ever taken in his life. Molly had heard the sound of the front door shutting and turned to watch him as he approached. He felt her eyes boring into him as he drew nearer and sensed that this was a pivotal moment for both of them. His thoughts had been all over the place as he came to terms with what he had heard from Matt and yet he also knew in that same moment that the answer was very simple and staring him in the face.

Charles stopped a few feet away from her. She hadn't spoken and her large green eyes were turned towards him a mixture of anticipation and fear in their expression. She was afraid to speak for fear of saying the wrong thing. She knew that whatever was about to happen had to come from him.

"Can you forgive me?" He asked.

It was not what she had expected. "What for?"

He pulled a face and grimaced slightly, "For being an idiot, for being jealous, for not trusting you or your reasons when you asked me to and for not listening to the woman I love."

"Say that again." She wasn't sure she had heard properly.

"All of it?" He enquired.

She shook her head, "No just the last bit."

He understood and stepped a little closer to her, "I didn't listen to the woman I love."

"I didn't make it easy did I?" she replied.

"I kept blaming you when you were really testing my faith in you and I let you down," he whispered as his arms reached for her and pulled her close to him. "But I promise I won't let you down again. I love you, Molly Dawes."

He leaned in to kiss her and as his lips met hers he felt the warmth of her fresh tears on his face. When they broke apart he gently brushed her tears away and looked into her eyes, "There's one more thing, Molly." He didn't want there to be any more secrets and took a deep breath. "I know about the baby and I want you to know that it's alright. I'll be there every step of the way with you."

Molly looked up at him. Her eyes widened in surprise at his words and she regarded him with undisguised astonishment as she said, "What the hell are you talking about? I'm not pregnant."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Summer – Nine Months Later**

Charles stood on the steps of Haywood House, surveying the scene before him, seeing the smooth green carpet lawns sweeping down to the lake, the sunlight sparkling on the water, swans, moorhens and mallards moving majestically across its surface and the woods beyond almost obscured by the heat haze on such a fine midsummer's day. He looked around him and considered himself to be a very fortunate man. Not many people were able to wake to this scene each day and stroll fifty yards to their place of work.

His decision to leave Nant Glyn House and take up Kevin's offer to manage his new Haywood House Training Centre in rural Berkshire had not been as easy as he had expected. For all the difficulties living in Snowdonia had posed in terms of his personal life and its impact on seeing Molly and Sam, Charles missed its wild beauty, the daily view of the mountains as he stood on the terrace to drink his coffee in the morning and the poignant, loneliness of the countryside in winter. He had found several excuses during the past nine months to take a trip to North Wales and had been welcomed with open arms each time his car had just happened to turn into the drive and make its way back to Nant Glyn House. Bing had understood better than many the need to have a settled family life. Nant Glyn House had been the first place that he, Sarah and their children had been able to call a permanent home and he appreciated that Charles was at a time of life when he needed to settle and offer security to his family. Ade continued to do his weekly commute to London and he and Giselle sometimes ventured down to Haywood House at weekends. He didn't seem to have any plans to change anything and he had once ventured to tell Charles in confidence that the secret to a happy relationship was not spending too much time in each other's company. "We never get bored of each other," he had declared and Charles could only say that he was glad it worked for him. He didn't necessarily agree in his own case.

The other reason Charles had thought long and hard about his decision to take up Kevin's offer was the involvement of Matt Parker. On that Tuesday in early October when Kevin had taken Charles to visit Haywood House and made the sudden and unexpected offer of a job managing the place, informing him at the same time that Matt was a co-investor, his first reaction had been to reject the offer out of hand. He couldn't imagine any possible scenario in which he could work alongside a man who had caused so much trouble between himself and Molly. The explanations for Matt's actions that followed later that day had gone some way to explaining what had happened and over time Charles had realised that much of the trouble was really of his own making. His negative interpretation of Matt's actions had frequently been fuelled by his jealousy over Molly; jealousy that he now knew was without any foundation. He certainly could see everything in a different light now.

It had taken time for Charles to get to know Matt, understand the way his mind worked and his sense of humour but he had learned to appreciate Matt's business skills, his vision and his drive and determination to make Haywood Park a success. He had worked tirelessly for six months alongside Charles to get the business up and running and demonstrated his expertise in this field. It was his first venture independent of _Parker Hamilton _and a step back to his business roots. He'd told Charles on that first Tuesday that he didn't enjoy the cloak and dagger nature of acquisitions even though Charles had drily observed that he had all the necessary attributes for subterfuge to which Matt had shrugged and declared, "You've got to use what the situation demands, Charles. It's a bit of military strategy applied to the business world but my ammunition is words."

It had taken a leap of faith on Charles' part to work with Matt and at first he had been wary of him expecting to see the brash and irritating personality resurface but it hadn't. The likeable Matt, the one that everyone else had seen and appreciated was generally to the fore and he had only seen the assured and over-confident persona on show when it was needed, persuading a new client to choose Haywood Park for their training courses, instilling confidence in the small team of Haywood House employees or talking Charles or Kevin into a new idea for the place. Charles realised that apart from those times when Matt had deliberately been challenging him to see what he was made of and how he handled himself, he had mistaken his enthusiasm for brashness. Matt had told him quite early on that the moment he had known Charles was someone he could work with was when he had stepped in to challenge him at the Karaoke night.

"I kept pushing you and eventually you stepped outside your comfort zone and socked it to me good and proper. I admired that. I was also damn relieved because my singing is dreadful."

Charles remembered that Karaoke night well and his own sense of satisfaction at the outcome but he had no intention of introducing something similar at Haywood Park no matter how many times Matt pulled his leg about it and threatened to put it on the next team meeting agenda.

Now that the business was up and running, Matt had stepped back a little and was spending more time in America pursuing his other business concerns. As much as Charles had learned to appreciate Matt's good qualities over time he still enjoyed taking the reins and being more independent and he had grown in confidence.

Moving to Haywood Park to live on site in a two-bedroomed flat had meant that Sam could now spend his weekends with Charles in his own home. He loved it here and it was great to see him running about the grounds at weekends when it was quiet and enjoying all the outdoor activities. Rebecca had been curious enough to offer to bring Sam to Berkshire herself on the second weekend he had been due to stay with Charles and he could tell that she had been impressed with everything she had seen, possibly even a little envious. It had also been the first time she had met Molly. It was inevitable that this meeting must take place. With so many changes happening in Charles, life she was sure to want to meet the woman with whom her child was spending so much time. Charles was glad that they had met in such impressive surroundings. Molly had just returned from work, arriving by taxi from the station, dressed in a smart business suit and looking every inch the successful young woman that she had become. Rebecca had been civil bordering on friendly to her and in the months that had followed had never mentioned any concerns about the situation or her relationship with Sam. Sam liked Molly very much. She had a good sense of fun, told him jokes and messed about in the way a seven year old appreciated. He was a bright boy but to Molly's relief he had never made any of those embarrassing wide-eyed innocent comments she had feared. Once when Charles had been putting Sam to bed and the door had been slightly ajar she had heard Charles ask Sam if he liked Molly and he had replied, "She's like a big sister but one that you actually like." She had taken this as a compliment but never admitted to having overheard.

As well as Sam being so much nearer and being able to stay at weekends and holidays, the best benefit of Charles taking the job at Haywood Park was that Molly had moved in to live with him. She had given up the lease on her flat in London at the end of the year and decided to become a commuter. Her days were longer now but as far as she was concerned it was worth it to be able to return home every night to the man she loved. Weekends in particular were bliss. It was a peaceful oasis here especially on a beautiful summer day like today.

Charles descended the steps of the house and strolled across the lawn carrying a tray of cold drinks. Molly saw him moving her way and waved to him. The baby lay on the blanket in the shade of the large oak tree, well protected from the rays of the sun. She kicked her legs in the air and Molly waved a rattle over her delighting in watching her attempts to reach out and touch it. He smiled at the scene, she was so relaxed and natural with little Sophie. She seemed to have a natural affinity with children. Reaching Molly he set the drinks down on the grass and couldn't help bending over to kiss her.

"Stop that!" a familiar voice called out, "You're supposed to be babysitting not canoodling."

Molly turned her head to see Kate and Phil crossing the lawn towards them. They had been taking a stroll around the lake but looked pretty hot now. Kate looked as if she had caught the sun and Phil was wiping his brow.

"There are cold drinks here," Molly called out.

Kate flopped down and took the drink offered by Charles, "Phew, I need that, it's baking." She glanced down at her daughter and gazing at the baby and softening her voice said, "Has Sophie behaved herself for Auntie Molly?"

"She's been an angel, Kate."

Kate rolled her eyes, "Well she isn't at three o'clock in the morning, but you've got to make up for it sometimes haven't you, darling." She grasped Sophie's little hands and bent to kiss them causing her to kick her legs even more enthusiastically.

Molly remembered the moment she had been standing under this oak tree in the rain on the day that Charles had been brought here to view the place by Kevin and he had told her that he loved her swiftly followed by his reassurance that he knew about the baby and would support her. She could still recall her shock and confusion wondering what on earth he was talking about. When he told her he had seen a positive pregnancy test in the spilled contents of her bathroom bin she had been none the wiser. She had assured him that it wasn't hers and for a while couldn't imagine how it had come to be there but then she had remembered something. On the Sunday that Matt had turned up uninvited she had begged Kate to come round as an excuse to get rid of him and in thanks had taken her out for a meal. She had been the last person to visit Molly before she had gone to Nant Glyn House and she remembered that she had disappeared into the bathroom for a while beforehand saying she was putting on more make-up although Molly hadn't perceived any visible difference when she had re-emerged. Kate later admitted that she had stopped on her way over to Molly's flat on that Sunday morning at a chemist shop and she had taken that first pregnancy test in Molly's bathroom.

The test had been confirmation of Kate's suspicions and it had taken her a few days to come to terms with the news and tell Phil. At that Sunday lunch Kate had been talking to Molly about a change of career and Molly had assumed she meant a new job. It was a new job but not the type Molly had been envisaging. Learning of Kate's pregnancy she had recalled the dizzy spell at the office when Matt had fussed and Molly had thought it was a pretence and then Kate pulling out of the pub quiz saying she thought she had a virus. When she had called her on the Saturday morning after Charles had walked out she hadn't offered to come round as Molly had expected and had taken two hours to call her back. She had admitted later that she was overcome with a bout of morning sickness and couldn't summon the energy to phone.

The change to Kate and Phil's family life had been a big one but from what Molly could see, she was happy and content and had adapted to the practicalities of motherhood far better than she had expected realising that what seem to an outsider like tedious and unpleasant tasks were never as arduous for when carried out for someone that you love.

They sat for a while in the shade enjoying the cold drinks, the pleasant conversation and the tranquillity of the scene until Charles reached out his hand to Molly and said, "How about a stroll down to the boathouse?" Molly wanted to giggle and ask if that was a euphemism but knowing that there was really a small boathouse at the far corner of the lake and it was a favourite walk and seeing Kate and Phil flopped down on the blanket next to Sophie looking sleepy, she nodded and got up.

They strolled hand in hand to the water's edge and stopped for a moment to watch the ducks dipping and diving below the surface before turning around to take in the scene behind them. Charles took a deep breath and squeezed her hand.

"How do you fancy something like that?" He nodded in the direction of Kate and Phil lying on the picnic blanket in the shade of the oak tree whilst little Sophie kicked her legs in the air and gurgled.

"A baby?" Molly said, "I'm not sure about that, right now, not with things going so well here and work and stuff..." she trailed off and looked concerned.

Charles pulled a face and grimaced slightly, "I didn't mean a baby. Well, not straight away, at least."

The penny dropped. "Was that a proposal, then?" Molly asked, her eyes uplifted to examine the expression on his face.

Charles gazed down at her clearly thinking about this question, "Mmh. Given how many misunderstandings there have been between us in the past let me just say for the purposes of clarification, Miss Molly Dawes, that it is definitely, categorically, unreservedly, assuredly and without doubt a proposal of marriage. So what do you say?"

He looked at her anxiously, waiting for an answer. Molly took a deep breath. "Will a simple 'yes' do?"

THE END


End file.
